“Just Win, Baby!”

And more often than not, for the past 35 years—recent times notwithstanding—that’s exactly what the Raiders did.

Can Al’s little aphorism be applied to jumpstarting a business? Sure…the quick and easy answer would seem to be:

“Just Sell, Baby!”

Sounds easy enough, but we all know the sales process is a tricky road to navigate. A breakdown in any number of areas quickly turns, “Just Sell, Baby” into “Hasta la vista, Baby!”

More than ever, what’s needed is a proven strategy for accelerating the sales process, and there’s no one better qualified to provide that strategy than internationally acclaimed speaker, author and seminal thinker on sales and marketing issues, Neil Rackham.

Here’s what you need to know:

Rackham has written five of the bestselling career sales training books of all time, including his phenomenally successful, “SPIN SELLING,” “Major Account Sales Strategy,” “Rethinking the Sales Force,” “Getting Partnering Right” and his latest release, “Escaping the Price-Driven Sale.”

More than half of the Fortune 500 companies pay major bucks to establish employee training and development programs using Rackham’s sales models. Unfortunately, however, because of the high demand for his corporate sales training programs, very few people from small and mid-size businesses get the chance to learn from this living legend.

That is, until now.

On December 4 at the Radisson Hotel in Piscataway, NJ, Move Ahead 1 will host Neil Rackham in his only live area appearance for an intensive sales training workshop. Throughout this high-end direct sales training seminar you will:

•    Learn how economic conditions are changing the world of selling
•    Discover how the worlds’ best sales forces are using value creation strategies
•    Learn what scientific research tells us about successful selling
•    Learn the art of asking powerful questions that change the way customers think
•    Acquire the keys to building a high performance sales culture

These core sales skills are crucial for competing in today’s super-tight economic conditions, where everybody’s walking on eggshells and the market has more ups and downs than a gymnastics trampoline competition.

If you want to “Just Sell, Baby,” then treat yourself to the best holiday gift you could ever receive and register now for this seminar while there’s still seating available. Otherwise, it’s “Hasta la vista, Baby!”

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?

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.

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

I recently read a business negotiation article by Eileen Alt Powell in the Home News Tribune that gives some very interesting statistics regarding the rise of bartering for goods and services in lieu of cash payments. This includes consumers looking to trade items or services with other consumers, as well as businesses that might be looking to trade services or work off excess inventory in return for new customers.

Jim Buckmaster, CEO of the online classified ad and forum giant, Craigslist, estimated there were more than 140,000 barter posts this past May, more than double the number from a year ago. Tom McDowell, executive director of the National Association of Trade Exchanges, also cites a down economy as the catalyst for the rising number of barter deals between businesses.

Another article found in Money magazine (Bob Tedeschi, August, 2008) flatly states if there’s any silver lining to our sluggish economy it’s that the consumer is back in charge with a lot more power to name his or her price. Here are a few examples the article cited:

• Mortgage Brokers: Volume remains low for those brokers that are still in business. When buying your next house, use that leverage to cut commissions.
• Health Clubs: Besides a downturn in business due to the aging of the Baby Boomers, the economy is keeping new signups to a minimum. It’s a good time to negotiate reduced rates on initiation and monthly fees.
• Cell Phone Service: If your contract has lapsed or is about to lapse, call your company’s retention department and tell them “the other guy” is offering some pretty attractive plans. What are they willing to do to keep you as a customer?
• Cable/Telephone/Internet Services: Like cellular phone service, play one company against the other. Mention competitors’ rates and tell them you’re considering switching to save some money.
• Electronics/Clothing/”Stuff”: Retail sales have been sluggish all year and as a result, consumers are often able to get significant additional discounts on big-ticket items. Use a comparison-shopping site to find the lowest price, bring it to the store, and find the person (usually a supervisor) that has the authority to “okay” a lower offer.

Two important things to know before you head out on the bartering trail:

First, like the proverbial “party poopers” they are, Uncle Sam’s eyes and ears at the IRS say some barter transactions are taxable. According to them, “The fair market value of goods and services exchanged must be included in the income of both parties.” That figure then gets entered on Form 1040’s Schedule C, which is titled Profit or Loss From Business. So, it would be in your best interest to consult a tax expert before proceeding in a barter deal. ‘Nuff said.

Second, if the extraordinary opportunities that exist out there have tickled your “barter bone,” you want to make sure you do it right and give yourself every advantage possible. What’s that mean? It means sharpening up your negotiating skills on September 18, 2008, at the Radisson Hotel in Piscataway, NJ, when the world’s foremost negotiator, Herb Cohen, presents the fine art of negotiating a deal.

In an exclusive New Jersey appearance promoted by Move Ahead 1, Herb, a worldwide bestselling author, will share his strategies and unique insights for reading people and situations, and negotiating from a position of strength. Learning Herb’s skill sets will help you to deftly manage negotiating situations in all walks of life, including business, personal relationships, and of course, bartering!

Don’t even think about it; register now! Your one-time investment will bring you a lifetime of returns. And you can take that to the bank!

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?

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.

And fortunately, he had his brother, Roy, to provide the safety net.

You see, as much a visionary as Walt Disney was, it’s common knowledge that he was virtually clueless about managing money. He’s even quoted as saying, “All I know about money is that I have to have it to do things. I neither wish nor intend to amass a personal fortune. Money may worry me, but it does not excite me. Ideas excite me.”

Well, that’s all fine-and-dandy, but we all know that without money, things don’t get done. And that’s where Roy Disney came into the picture.

Roy was to money what Walt was to creativity. And I think it’s fair to say that without Roy, there would be no Disney Empire today. Roy, a banker by trade, was the one who finagled the loans, took out the mortgages, and begged and borrowed from relatives when Walt told him how much his next idea or initiative was going to cost.

Did Roy like it? Heck no! Being frugal by nature, he often fought with Walt tooth-and-nail, claiming how they couldn’t possibly incur any more debt. It got to the point where the two brothers wouldn’t talk for weeks at a time, instead sending handwritten notes to each other from their separate offices in Disney studios when they needed to communicate.

But through it all, Roy loved and believed in his brother and somehow made it happen.

To simply say that Roy was good with money would be like saying Michelangelo was good with paints. No way. Roy was nothing less than a master negotiator to be able to pull off the deals he did to keep the fledging Disney company afloat.

Through it all, Roy proved that principles of negotiating go far beyond simply haggling over money and shaking hands over an agreed amount. It’s a mindset. It’s problem solving. It’s the ability to endear your self to another in order to bring about favorable results. It’s about understanding people’s true interests and finding a common ground.

If you’d like to acquire some of these high level, business-building negotiating principles that Roy Disney employed, then I strongly suggest that you take advantage of an opportunity to learn from the best negotiator in the world. Register now for Herb Cohen’s only New Jersey appearance at Move Ahead 1’s business development seminar on Thursday, September 18, 2008.

There’s one other quote of Walt’s that stuck with me from my trip. It’s on a sign in the “One Man’s Dream” attraction. It reads: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

Okay. I quit talking. Now you begin doing.

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.

Why?

Simple—Because he knows how to sell it, baby. All you have to do is read his book, “Negotiate This! By Caring, But Not T-H-A-T Much” (Warner Hardcover, September, 2003) to know that much. Heck, this guy could sell a box of frozen fish to an Eskimo. (Ring Dings in a French bakery? Hamburgers to a vegetarian? You get the idea….)

And you know why he’s so damn good? Because—admittedly—he cares, But Not T-H-A-T Much.

It’s a compelling strategy worth learning…and relearning. And then learning again. It’s creative problem solving at the highest level.

Throughout the book Herb reveals details regarding his 30-plus years of being intimately involved in the mediation process of some of the world’s headline dramas, from hostile takeovers to hostage negotiations. He recounts colorful stories from the war rooms of some of the world’s largest Fortune 500 companies. And along the way he delivers what you picked up the book for in the first place — technical negotiation techniques geared towards the achievement of your business and personal negotiating goals.

Think you can learn something from this guy? Well, here’s your chance! Take some action right now and purchase a ticket for Herb’s only area appearance in Piscataway, New Jersey, on September 18, 2008. MoveAhead1, New Jersey’s premiere sales, marketing, leadership and professional business development promoters, will host him.

If your professional life involves any type of negotiations (and what professional life doesn’t?) and you choose not to attend this event, sorry, but you’re crazy. This is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from…well, the guy that literally ‘wrote the book’ on persuasion techniques and the mediation process. If you’re not there you’ll be missed…But Not T-H-A-T Much!

Carpe Diem!

See you back here in a couple weeks.