Caryl Felicetta of Single Throw Internet Marketing recently wrote an article in their marketing blog noting steps you can take to improve your bottomline in this tough economy. They’re worth repeating…

1. Brush off your “UVP” – Your Unique Value Proposition, sometimes called Unique Selling Position, is where all your marketing and messaging starts from. It’s how you differentiate yourself or company from your competition. If you can’t tell the difference, your customer won’t be able to either.
2. Market Where Your Customers Are – Seems simple enough. But where are your customers? I can pretty much guarantee in this day and age they are ONLINE! If your website is still the one your extremely smart and talented nephew that had a computer and Frontpage built for you, it’s time to make a change. Your website IS MARKETING and likely viewed by more customers and prospects than your Yellow Page ad or that ad you ran in a business journal once or twice last year. Don’t know where your customers are looking? Then get out to a networking event and talk to them!!! You still need to be in front of people offline!
3. Clean Out Your Sock Drawer – What? You mean procrastinate? NOOOOoooo. I mean look at what you have, what works and what doesn’t. Those fuzzy argyle socks you bought a few years ago really don’t go with your business suit. And those socks with the holes in the toes, you were going to sew up the holes? If you haven’t done it already, you won’t. They are taking up space. Get rid of them. Stick with what works and make room for new ideas, or even new staff members.
4. Learn and Train – Now’s the time to improve your skills – especially your sales skills. Take a sales or marketing course. Read a few business, sales, or marketing books. There’s plenty of old concepts you’ve yet to master, and certainly new ones waiting in the wings.

If I were adding a fifth item it would be stop wasting time. The 4 items above are Business 101. If you haven’t considered them, you’re already behind. But the good news is you can always start. So what are you waiting for?

If you didn’t get a chance to attend the Herb Cohen Success Expo, you missed one of Move Ahead 1’s best Expos ever, and you missed learning about our final Success Expo of 2008, featuring Neil Rackham, author and creator of the SPIN Selling methodology.

So, what the heck is SPIN Selling?

In Rackham’s book, appropriately titled, SPIN Selling, he discusses how classic sales techniques, like overcoming objections can actually hinder a sale due to the fact that most potential clients are now savvy to these tricks.

What Rackham has come up with is a way for you to ask your client questions in order to expose their “pain” and then ”save” them with your product or service.

So, what does the SPIN in SPIN Selling stand for?

“SPIN” stands for the four question types asked in sequence that are needed to get the sale.

S stands for Situation Questions.  Data-gathering questions about background and facts about the company you are calling on.

P stands for Problem Questions.  Questions which explore problems, difficulties, and dissatisfactions in areas where your product or service can help.

I stands for Implication Questions. These types of questions take a client’s problem and explore its effects or consequences.

N stands for Need-Payoff Questions.  These types of questions get the client to tell YOU the benefits that your solution could offer.

There are several examples of these types of questions in SPIN Selling. But why not give yourself an opportunity to listen and learn from the author himself?  Also get an opportunity to network with like-minded professionals who are attending this event to get an edge in their business.

Book review-amazon.com-”The Ultimate Tactical Selling Handbook”

I am a corporate sales professional. That means that I don’t do “hit and run,” one-time sales. Tom Hopkins and Zig Ziglar offer great tactics for those kind of salespeople, but they don’t work for me. Neil Rackham has hit one out of the park with Spin Selling. Turning everything I “thought” I knew about closing on its head, he provides the power tools for making the most of a sales call. The most important concept here is that you, as a sales rep. are not there when the real decisions get made. Therefore, you must arm your prospects with the tools to represent your company well in your absence. Rackham does not disappoint. You will get all the tools you need to prepare your prospect to close the sale for you from this book. I give all of my salespeople Strategic Selling by Miller, Heiman, et. al. and Spin Selling as the ultimate combination of strategic and tactical approaches to corporate selling. Stop throwing commissions away. If you consider yourself a true corporate sales professional, you have no business ignoring this book.

Register on line today at www.moveahead1.com or contact Nicole Linden directly at 908-216-1940.

Wherever you work or whatever you do, if it involves participation of other people, then undoubtedly, you are familiar with the term, “Teamwork”.  Without it, organizations fail.

Have you ever worked on or with a team where everyone felt free to share ideas, team members did their part and everyone got along?  How about the team where no one got along, every team member was busy shooting down fellow team mates, a few lazy team members did nothing, and a few loud team members dominated team meetings?  Not so fun and the level of productivity…very low.

I recently had a conversation with a client who shared with me his struggles with the team he manages.  “They all seem to spend a lot of time gossiping about who isn’t contributing to the team, or who doesn’t do something well. We aren’t getting any work done.”   This is not good.

Small and large businesses alike know that teamwork among managers and employees is important for these three very obvious reasons:

1. Teamwork maintains or increases employee morale
2. Teamwork helps in producing a quality product or service
3. Teamwork greatly increases customer service.

So what do businesses do when they realize their level of teamwork has taken a dive?

Basically, re-evaluate your team members and their abilities, just like a football coach would do.

According to Sheena Binkley, author of an article titled, “The Importance of Teamwork in the Workplace”

There are certain characteristics to remember when knowing the values of teamwork. The most important factor in teamwork is foundation. Knowing which position each person is within a team can help co-workers provide the work they’re strong in; that way assignments can be completed on time and without problems. Having respect for one another is also very important.

With every team, there is a team leader, and that leader needs to be strong.  Lauren Beyhenof, author of, “Teamwork in the Work Environment” wrote,

Strong team leaders are those who know how to delegate. They see what they want to have happen, and, if they’re truly attuned to the overall group dynamic, they are aware of each team mate’s strengths and weaknesses. The two greatest pitfalls of being a team leader are 1. The leader tends to overpower the rest of the group; 2. The leader “bends over backwards” as they say, to appear more like an amicable buddy than a goal-oriented leader.

In order to be successful, every team member needs to put forth their best effort and combine that effort with the rest of the group.  When everyone does their part the result is realized by an increase in what the team can do as a whole.

The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.  Vincent Lombardi

Two interesting articles came through my RSS reader today posting the results of a study regarding gender and negotiation skills. The first noted the following:

Women more skilled at business negotiations than their male counterparts.

I can buy that, being a woman. However let’s look at the study results based on simulations of business negotiations among 554 Israeli and American management students at Ohio State University, in New York City, and in Israel at the Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration. Dr. Yael Itzhaki who conducted the study (a woman as well) stated, “Women are more generous negotiators, better co-operators and are motivated to create win-win situations.” Women offered better terms to reach an agreement than men. And women were good at facilitating interaction between the parties, she found. The study also indicated that women are great listeners, they care about the concerns of the other side, and they’re generally more interested in finding a win-win situation – a statement coined by Herb Cohen, our upcoming seminar speaker – to the benefit of both parties than male negotiators.

Then just posted today…

When it comes to negotiating, men and women change gender stereotype

A study from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business assigned 190 MBA students to same-sex groups to represent either a high-status recruiter or a low-status job candidate engaged in a standard employment negotiation simulation. The study noted that when incentivized to make a positive impression on their counterparts, men and women in the high-status role acted in ways that contradicted gender stereotypes. Women negotiated more aggressively and men negotiated in a more appeasing manner.

Business schools are looking for ways to ensure graduates are given all the skills necessary to compete in an ever increasingly aggressive and competitive business environment. That means graduates entering the workforce are even more prepared to dominate in business. It’s not going to be whether you are a man or woman, but how well trained you are to negotiate and make the sale.

I could have told them to save their money. Women are the better negotiators. Just ask my husband!

So let’s hear from the men and women out there…who do you think dominates when it comes to negotiating the sale? Are you even prepared for the battle?

By the way, as far as men go, the master of negotiation is Herb Cohen. I’ll have a chance to go head-to-head with him this coming September. Will you be there?

How come employees aren’t as happy as they were just a few years ago?  Quite obviously it’s because of the economy.   Employees are nervous and stressed in today’s volatile economy. Gas prices, food prices, downsizing. etc.   This causes lower productivity and raises health benefit costs for employers.

According to the American Institute of Stress, numerous surveys and studies confirm that occupational pressures and fears are far and away the leading source of stress for American adults and that these have steadily increased over the past few decades. So how can employers help their employees without breaking their already strained budget? 

Below are 3 simple ways employers can do this:

1. Be Honest.  Let employees know the state of the company.  It is critical that employers are honest about the company’s financial situation. If business is good, discuss new projects and contracts. If it’s not so good, focus on the integrity of the company and its management. 
2. Let employees know you care.  Provide information to employees about how to make the dollar go further, or where in the local area is gas the least expensive. Providing this information will show that you are listening and understand and ultimately, care. Providing this information won’t cost you too much time and more importantly, it doesn’t cost anything to provide information.
3. Don’t give up on training.  We know budgets are tight but there are some very cost effective training seminars that don’t require round-trip airfare, two nights’ hotel stay and a rental car. Look locally for a good ½ day or 1 day seminar and send your employees to it!   Not only does it show that you value their growth as an employee, it gives them a chance to be with each other, outside of the office and can be used as a really great morale booster. It’s also  a great return on a minimal investment.

There are several more ways to assist during slow economic times. These are just a few to get started.

A great way to view  a company is to look at how it treats its employees both in good times and bad.

I recently attended and exhibited at the NJBIZ Expo at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center in Edison, NJ.  I wanted to make it a point to survey a few exhibitors as to, “how successful they thought the show was for their business”.  The comments I got were interesting. Here’s why.

One of the comments I received was, “I thought the show was great!  I got at least 4 fantastic leads to follow up on”. I heard this from an exhibit booth that was 2 spaces down from me so I had an opportunity to really watch how this gentleman worked.   Never once during the two day show did I see this person actually “in” his booth space. He was in front of his space, in the isle where people were walking. He greeted every visitor with a genuine “hello” and immediately asked if they had any questions about his organization, please feel free to ask. He allowed time for the visitor to browse his information and then, if there was interest, he spoke further with that individual.  Needless to say, he was properly working his exhibit booth and quite possibly received 4 new clients.

I also spoke with another exhibitor, who was working their booth with 2 people.  When asked the same question, their response was, “This show was a waste of time.  We could have been getting so much done in the office or on the road”.  Mind you, this was a large, well-known organization. While spying on their “tradeshow skills” I noticed that they showed up late, each day of the two-day show, they ate breakfast, and lunch in their booth, and spent all of their time sitting behind their exhibit table, chatting with each other, or on their cell phones, or, believe it or not…reading gossip magazines!  On the rare occasion that someone did stop at their booth, I overheard one booth staff member say, “I don’t know.  You’ll have to check our website on that information”.

Well, I don’t need to state the obvious but I want to give you just a few tips for how to properly exhibit at a trade show.

First you must remember this. A trade show puts hundreds of potential customers in your reach. You don’t have to drive, fly or spend an entire day just meeting with two or three people. Treat it as such. The attendees who visit your booth are your future customers.

Prepare. Be sure you are fully stocked with the materials you need for your exhibit. Don’t chance running out of business cards or anything that you use in your exhibit to attract customers.

Maintain a minimum of 2 people in your organization’s exhibit booth. This allows for one to be greeting new visitors and one to have more detailed discussions with visitors. However, you do not want to overcrowd your booth so a good rule of thumb is 1 staff member to 15 sq. ft of booth space. 

Consider breaks.  You never want an empty booth so be sure to break accordingly. 

This also allows time for the exhibit staff to check out the trade show, attend seminars at the show, etc.

Be sure breaks are not taken the booth. Stay professional and allow for breaks in the designated break area. All trade shows have them.

Inform current and potential clients of your participation and ask them to bring a colleague to the show.   Use this as a platform not only to generate new business, but to solidify and build on current business.

Limit the amount of product on display. Too much product can become overwhelming for the trade show attendee.

And finally, a proactive, friendly and well-informed booth staff member is often more effective in attracting attendees than a giveaway. Samples are valuable, but shouldn’t be the only draw to your organization’s booth.

There are hundreds more tips I can share with you. These are just a very basic few.   I think you get the general idea.  Working a trade show is a very interactive process. Don’t expect just because your booth is there and you are, “an exhibitor” that people attending the show will flock to your space.  Follow these basic tips and you will definitely see a return on your investment.

I recently read and interesting article, Negotiating Nuggets, written by Herb Cohen, one of the world’s most savvy negotiators.   What I found interesting about the article are the three points he makes.  They have nothing to do with being savvy.  In fact, the points he makes are quite the opposite.  You don’t have to be savvy to be a good negotiator.  Take a read. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to have dinner with, “The World’s Best Negotiator”, Herb Cohen.  He is the subject matter expert in Negotiation Skills, brought in by both the Carter and Reagan administrations to help advise on some of the most tension-fraught negotiations both nationally and intentionally over the past 30 years. Some of those include the skyjacking of TWA Flight 847, and the seizure of the Achille Lauro.

More recently, his input and advice has been sought by the White House on a myriad of problems such as The Gulf Crisis, the seizure of the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru and, the Camp David Mideast peace talks.

 Cohen is also credited with coining the terms most of us use in our everyday lives; “Win-Win, “Win- Lose”, and “Lose- Lose”.

While having dinner with Herb, I felt as if I was having dinner with a dear Uncle.  Cohen, mild-mannered and very funny, told his stories with such color that he left me feeling as if I wanted to ask him to tell his stories over and over again.

Cohen’s latest book, Negotiate This, By Caring, But Not T-H-A-T Much reads the same way he tells his stories, which makes the book easily understood with a lot of invaluable information when it comes to negotiating skills. 

Cohen will be appearing in New Jersey on Thursday, September 18^th, as the keynote speaker for

Move Ahead 1, which produces sales, marketing, leadership and professional business development seminars. I highly recommend sales managers looking for employee training development or anyone looking for business management skills training, get tickets for this event. It’s sure to be “Win-Win” for anyone from top-level executives to sales and management not to mention anyone who needs to work on their negotiation skills with their children.  Cohen says they are actually the world’s best negotiators!

Take a listen to his Podcast.  You’ll be sure to enjoy it.

How many times have you attended a networking event only to be asking yourself the question, “Why am I here wasting my time?”  Believe me. You aren’t the only one!  Networking stinks.  Sounds pretty bad coming from someone who has been networking since the early 1990’s and is a representative of an organization that produces business networking events doesn’t it?

Does networking truly stink or are we just not thinking when attending these events?

Here are a few suggestions to avoid having a networking event become a waste of your time.

Before attending, do your homework and find out who is going to be there. What organizations are sponsoring or exhibiting at the event?  How long has the networking group that is hosting the event been on the scene?  Make sure the networking group is the right audience for your particular product or service.  If you know someone who is a member of the networking group, don’t be afraid to ask, ahead of time, what business they have gotten out of being a member.

Next, be prepared. Have your business cards readily available, and have your mind ready to learn from other networkers as to what their businesses are about and how you can help them.  “Wait. What? Help them? I thought I was here to grow my business through networking!”And you are.  Use these events to build up your arsenal of good, trusted contacts that you can share with other organizations to help grow their business.  The more you help their business grow, the more they are going to help you grow yours. It’s only natural.  Using this technique will allow you to become a valued networker as you are offering help, not shoving what your company does down their throats at a time that they may or may not need your product or service.

When you are asked the age old question which I can guarantee you will receive, “What do you do?”, take the advice of Mark Green, President of Performance Dynamics Group, LLC by providing a well thought out response. He says: 

 “Start with the realization that saying what you “are” is not the answer to the question “What do you do?” To figure this out, simply ask your customers why they do business with you. You might discover that the value you provide to them extends far beyond what you thought! In fact, I would wager that any one of the points of value you provide would sound a lot more impressive than “I’m a [put your profession here].”

In giving these alternative answers, you are providing information that is more emotionally oriented and value driven. They speak precisely to the results of your work. This is the type of information that does not just go into the “bin;” rather it’s usually processed into a follow-up question. And follow-up questions lead to dialogues, dialogues to relationships, and relationships to business transactions.”

Have patience.  As we all know, it takes time to develop a relationship when doing business and, provided you did your homework and selected the right event for your product or service, still don’t  be under the misconception that if you attend a networking event, you will walk away with new business at that moment.  It takes time.

Networking doesn’t stink. It’s just misunderstood. If you do you research the event prior to attending, and think before you attend, you should never run into an event that becomes a waste of your time.  Use these suggestions to help you before your next networking event.  See you there!

Imagine being dubbed, “The Worlds Best Negotiator” or being credited with coining the term, “Win-Win”. Wouldn’t you love to be that guy? I know I would! Herb Cohen is that guy. He’s negotiated everything we’ve all read about in the news since the 70’s! He’s taught negotiation skills to presidents and been involved in more contract negotiations that anyone on the planet! Herb Cohen is the world’s foremost expert on negotiation skills. Understanding negotiation principals is a critical skill that we all need to understand.

Herb Cohen is coming to New Jersey in September. He will be teaching negotiation skills to hundreds of business professionals at an upcoming Move Ahead 1 business development seminar.   

Here is an excerpt from a recent NY Times article titled, “For Champions of Haggling, No Price Tag Is Sacred “, featuring the one and only negotiation skills guru Herb Cohen. 

“Ours is one of the few countries where haggling is not generally accepted, but this was not always so, said Herb Cohen, author of the best seller “You Can Negotiate Anything.” Remember Manhattan, the Native Americans and some beads?  

“Americans used to have great reputations as negotiators,” said Mr. Cohen, who in his career as a negotiator helped develop the F.B.I. hostage-negotiating program and was an adviser on terrorism to President Jimmy Carter. “But after World War II, we had a virtual monopoly on almost everything.” So Americans no longer had to bargain. That can make it confusing to people visiting the United States.

I remember when my sister’s soon-to-be father-in-law visited from Israel for her wedding. He was buying dress shoes at Nordstrom and tried to get the price down. It did not work. Our family often chuckled at that story, but the last laugh may be on us. Ms. Greenberg said that department stores are not off-limits to haggling. But a little subtlety might help. “Ask if the item is going on sale soon — or just came off sale — and whether you can have the lower price,” she said. Often, the saleswoman has coupons behind the counter. “I’ll ask, ‘do you have a coupon for me?’ and they’ll pull them out,” she said. Or if you have an expired coupon, sometimes you’ve got to beg, and say ‘C’mon, can’t you honor this?’ Sometimes they don’t have the authority and sometimes they do.” It might help, as Mr. Cohen said, to see yourself as negotiating, rather than haggling, which has an ugly sound and has the connotation of someone willing to wrestle for that last dime. 

“You don’t have to be a phony,” Mr. Cohen said. “You can tell the truth. Come in in a genial way, smiling with a low-key pose of calculated incompetence. The key words are, ‘Can you help me?’” 

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