Categories
Sales & Marketing

Fifteen things I wish Mom would have told me about Selling

Here are fifteen things I wish Mom (or someone) told me about selling. Instead I figured them out myself. I thought I would share them so you can see sales as the proud and noble profession that it is.

1) People are not born being good at sales. Selling is just a skill that anyone can learn.

2) Stop making excuses.  It is not the economy; it is you, your skills, your attitude, your perception that makes all the difference.

3) Selling is not manipulation, it is influence. It is not about lying; it is about honesty.

4) Selling is teaching someone to buy from you; not forcing them to buy.

5) Understand when people buy your product (no matter what it is) they do so for their reasons not yours.

6) Believe in what you are selling and allow that belief to show.

7) Admit you don’t know everything and that’s ok. Life is about learning. Being good at sales is about learning. Remember rule number 1.

8) If you don’t know, tell your prospect. Feel good knowing you will find out and then find out.

9) Play and have fun.

10) Be honest, fair and ethical with all people.

11) Learn to say “no” and feel good hearing “no.” They are not rejecting you – they just don’t need your product or service right now.

12) Listen more than you talk. People need to feel heard.

13) Surround yourself with people that are more successful, happier, and accomplished than you are and learn from them. Why make the same mistakes they made.

14) Sell what you love and the money will come. If you don’t love what you sell find a way to at least see the good in it.

15) Spend money on training that will make you a better person. You never lose money on your investment when you grow as a person.

Categories
Success Attitude

Getting Rid of Fear And THRIVING In These New Energies

I continually hear people ask me, “How can I get RID of my fears?”

Did you know that when you approach fear from that perspective you cast judgment and condemnation towards yourself that separates you from your true Nature and God?

In this shift in consciousness, we must make a paradigm shift in how we think and feel about our fears or any thought and pattern we don’t like so we are moving into states of wholeness, peace, and love.

You will continue to be in conflict and inner struggle as long as you beat yourself up and judge yourself in any way including when you do or don’t do something out of fear!

Transformation is an internal energy shift that cannot be managed, controlled or directed by your mind and ego which is why learning new ways of living “with fear” in these new energies is critical .

You might be thinking, “I know this!!! I know I need to be more self-loving, more forgiving, more….!”  but you are still  getting hooked into old reactions. (Me too sometimes)

It’s not your fault if you are struggling with fears.

Fear has been controlling the world for centuries. It’s in your DNA. And there are many positives to fear you might not realize too.

That’s why 2012 and the years to follow are so exciting. This is your time to be liberated from the grip of your mind/ego  by the only one who can do that – God.

For this to happen, creating harmony with all parts of yourself is essential including your fears!

Living in the grip of fear and feeling powerless sucks.

You are not powerless.

If you are struggling with fear or any feeling or pattern you wish to change, the problem is HOW you are being WITH it – embracing ALL of you or bracing against yourself? Resistance to anything you don’t want only gives it more power to be alive in your life.

And if you are depending on your mind and ego to create the changes you want within yourself and your life, that is not where your true transformational power lies.

That’s like going to a mechanic to get your teeth cleaned.

The key is Love. It always comes back to love – the most powerfull transforming energy in Creation. That is your natural state and the essence of God.

You gotta line up your insides to attract what you want in your reality.

Categories
Starting Up

Setting up Your New Business

The beginning stages of starting and planning a business can be exciting. This is where you begin to dream up future possibilities and map out a clear path ahead in order to ensure your new company’s success in the marketplace. Start-up companies needing to house massive amounts of inventory, however, may stumble into some complications. On top of getting all the right licenses and legalities out of the way, you need to find a warehouse that allows you to efficiently manage inventory without going broke in the process. With a well-planned space, you can work alongside your warehouse manager to improve your bottom line. Let’s take a look at some of the logistics involved in setting up a great warehouse space.

Design and plan

Assuming you and your team have hit the pavement and found that magical warehouse facility, it’s time to hit the drawing board pretty hard. The first step in setting up any warehouse space is drawing up the perfect floor plan. Odds are your building’s lease is based on raw square footage. When you come up with a master list of what your warehouse needs to function, ensure you’re maximizing every inch of the warehouse space. This will give your designers ample information to help them along their way to customizing your workspace.

Get your needs in order

After you’ve drawn up a dynamic floor plan, figure out what you’ll need to effectively manage inventory in this new space, including proper shelving, hand trucks, machinery to move pallets around, and power supplies to keep your industrial equipment running at peak performance. Plan wisely and make sure you differentiate between needs and wants, such as purchasing an electric forklift before you can actually benefit from its purchase.

Safety considerations

Having effective safety measures in place are not just a good idea, they are required by law. This is especially true if you’re running an industrial warehouse where forklifts and other types of heavy machinery are involved. Observe the safety regulations required by your city, state and/or local region. Ensure the building itself is up to code for the type of inventory you are managing.

Setting up office space

Every warehouse facility should have a dedicated office space to handle the administrative tasks of running the facility and keeping detailed records of all inbound and outbound inventory. You and your team should have planned-out space for an office build-out in the beginning stages of the facility’s development. In general, the office space should be kept away from the rest of the warehouse so records, permits and other paperwork can be easily accessed and managed without distraction or disruption.

It’s important to remember that setting up and maintaining a quality warehouse space is an ongoing process. Get a basic plan in place and execute it promptly and precisely. As long as the initial plan is put together well, any changes that need to be made will most likely be easier to implement.

Categories
Success Attitude

Five Ways To Value and Love Your Self

“…Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of the Universe. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others…” ~ From A RETURN TO LOVE by Marianne Williamson

You have a purpose in being here

You matter

You are beautiful

You are smart

You are good

You are whole (not broken)

YOU ARE LOVE

You ARE ENOUGH

Your soul knows that.

The Divine knows that.

Love is the energy of this new Age of Enlightenment.

The veil of separation between your Human Self and Soul Self is lifting to reconnect you with Divine LOVE.

You might be facing some difficult life challenges in your – relationships, health, finances, business which are opportunities to break your heart open to access that LOVE.

Imagine what it might feel like to be embody LOVE in every moment no matter what is happening…

Here are five ways to be more self-loving with yourself (and others):

1. Notice when you are being too harsh with yourself. Your natural state is love.  Pay attention to your thoughts, self-talk and how you speak about yourself to others. Listen to the words you use to express in your head and out loud.  Do your words, thoughts and actions reflect love compassion, forgiveness, patience…? Look for opportunities to soften your heart and allow the love to flow.  Do you speak or think of yourself like a loving friend or a critical parent?

2. Treat your body with love and respect. Do you mistreat and abuse your body by ignoring what you know will help you to feel vital, vibrant, and alive?  You might ignore when you need to rest, exercise, eat more healthy, take breaks, meditate…..Do you withhold love by choosing to do things that might negatively impact on your health and well-being? Do you prioritize your self-care? Look for ways to honor your body and your needs as the treasure you are!

3. Do something every day that brings you pleasure. Yup, I said every day. What makes you feel good and brings you joy that is positive and uplifting? Do you pamper yourself and do things that make you smile? When you value yourself by doing loving things consistently, your life will be much happier and everyone in your world will reap the benefits.

4. Commit to the relationships in your life that lift your heart and feed your soul. This year look for opportunities to be more engaged with the people you love. Ask for help and allow them to love in return by being there for you when you really need support. Allow the nature flow of love to be both given and received.

5. Engage in daily spiritual practices to connect you with your “Essence” and Divinity. Prayer, contemplation, inspirational reading, walks in nature, meditation….opens our heart to be in loving communion with who we really are and God/Source/Higher Power as we walk though life’s challenges and blessings.  Cultivating the relationship with The Divine invites us to look at life through the eyes of love – to embody love with ourselves and those whose lives we touch.

Demonstrations of self- love are great ways to open your heart in concert with doing the inner emotional healing and transforming beliefs on both the conscious and subconscious level.

Ready to fall in deeper love with your Self?

Categories
Customer Service

How Do You Give Exceptional Customer Care?

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

In the last few months, our team has run up a steep learning curve in developing a new product line and the means to administer it. We’ve experienced a great deal of change and discovered as we’ve run this race that exceptional customer care is an integral part of a successful process. 

Here are 3 characteristics of exceptional customer care we experienced that created “raving fans” out of us. 

Ask Great Questions

While it’s easy to just “get started” with what you know, these companies first ask great questions. They began at 30,000 feet, i.e., big questions about our business goals, hopes, dreams, frustrations, and fears. 

Then they drilled down to specific ways to accomplish our goals with the least amount of frustration in implementation. They helped us put it in place and taught us how to do it independently. 

What great question will you ask a customer today as you give exceptional customer care? 

Listen and Then Answer

After asking great questions, they listened. 

Really listened. 

What a gift! No FAQ list url. No anticipation or presupposition. 

They employed the active listening technique of accurate empathy. They let us know they were listening by using some of our words in their response. Such empathy lowered the learning curve for us, eliminated accompanying hesitations, made it all more manageable, and we walked on up that hill. 

How will you listen first and then answer today as you give exceptional customer care? 

Give Respect

We had the sense that they were walking up the steep learning curve with us. That they could see from our perspective. They wanted to help us understand. They desired to serve us without making us feel ignorant at best and stupid at worst. 

They respected us. 

Every phone call and email was their “pleasure,” “why we’re here,” and “please let me know what I can do for you.”

One even asked for an update to see how he could help without our asking! 

How will your customers know you respect them today? 

Sure, it’s a busy season for everyone. 

What a wonderful opportunity for you to create an outstanding customer experience in a crowded, hurried-up market. 

Give exceptional customer care today as you ask great questions, listen and then answer, and give respect. 

As you do, you Work Positive in this negative world! 

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they can leave the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.WorkPositiveBook.com.