communication Archives | Page 7 of 10

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

~ Joseph P. Kennedy

Resilience and Flexibility

Sometimes when you look around it seems as though everyone is suffering and the business world around the globe is just going to shut its doors and shrivel up, but that is just one segment. Behind the scenes there is a lot of business going on even though some industries have been beaten to their knees.

I don’t want to minimize the challenges that come with a seismic shift like the one we’re facing just now, but I do want to encourage you… It’s not the whole reality. Many companies are doing extremely well and their products are sold out at full price!

Here’s why that’s good news for you even if your business is closed or struggling for survival: the businesses are looking for suppliers and their employees are continuing to purchase goods and services to keep pumping money into the economy.

I get it!

That doesn’t seem like great comfort. BUT… it does challenge you to find ways to get yourself and your business back on your feet so that you can demonstrate your resilience and flexibility.

The Person / System with the Most Flexibility Wins…

That’s a core Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) principle that every business should take to heart. A few months ago winning business was easy. Everyone was feeling confident, cashed-up, and ready to spend. Suddenly, it seems as though many people are feeling insecure, cash-poor, and holding back on all expenses.

Whether you’re a winner or a loser in the present economy, I want to remind you that your flexibility at this moment is always the basis for your future success.

I strongly believe that what we’re seeing is like the rocking of one of those Russian nesting dolls with rounded bases: when you give it a push, it rocks wildly and seems as though it will topple over, then it slowly returns to stasis. Going into lockdown has created that wild rocking motion, but things are returning to a new normal… even some hospitality-based businesses are seeing an uptick in opportunities. The key is your mindset and your willing to flex and respond to both the stop signals and the go signals.

That flexibility is at the heart of developing resilience and laying the groundwork for your future success.

What’s the Point?

I was talking to a friend who is struggling with depression in the face of all the challenges that have just hit… Not chronic depression, just a heavy pall over her spirit that doesn’t go away and the sense that there’s no point even getting out of bed since there’s nowhere to go and work to do.

I’ve been there myself and I know how hard it is to stay positive in the midst of that dark spiral.

BUT… I also know that you can choose what to focus on. It seems unnatural, and it’s not necessarily easy to tear your thoughts towards something positive which is why I love the way NLP teaches us to control our state. I shared how to do that with my friend, and also challenged her with some basic actions to take each day (starting with setting her alarm and getting up to exercise when it goes off). Yesterday, she called me to say that it’s helped… She even set herself some additional goals to reach and set up a chart to check them off each day.

Measurement is Your Friend

You can’t celebrate wins if you don’t measure anything. That’s what my friend discovered.

By setting goals and also creating a system of measuring them she gave herself grounds to celebrate… And that created a positive spiral of action and reaction.

What about you?

What are you measuring? Are you celebrating your achievements (large and small)? Or do you let them slide past?

This is a critical encouragement when things are tough. It’s equally important when everything is going well because it builds that habit of assessing your own performance so that you can both celebrate and challenge yourself because this is the habit that contributes to both resilience and flexibility.

Confident Closing Virtual Sales Masterclass

One of the areas we look at in the Confident Closing Virtual Sales Masterclass is this aspect of mindset and building habits that engender resilience and help you respond to unwanted situations flexibly and advantage of opportunities that exist, rather than wishing things were different.

Click the button below to learn more and purchase lifetime access along with some amazing bonuses:

Confident Closing Virtual Sales Masterclass

“I know you lawyers can, with ease,

Twist words and meanings as you please;

That language by your skill made pliant,

Will bend to favour ev’ry client.”

~ Fables 1738

Yes, the Language You Use Does Matter!

As I write this, the response to the coronavirus pandemic 2020 is ratcheting up daily. If you turn on the news or you aren’t careful with your Facebook feed you’ll find that you are inundated with fearful, panic-stricken language and unless you are ultra-careful, awake, and resilient your emotions and mindset will be sucked into the vortex.

Most people don’t even think about the words they hear or the ones they use, but they most certainly feel the impact of those words in their minds, hearts, and bodies. It’s one of the reasons why Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is such a powerful transformative force:

Students become aware of the language they use and the way they talk to themselves as well as others. Words and language are, by nature, pliant. You can use them to foster hope, creativity and positive momentum or you can use them to burden others with fear, panic, and inadequacy.

Would You Be Embarrassed if You Saw a Transcript of Your Unconscious Self-Speaking?

Most people have a constant inner dialogue with themselves, but few people are aware of what they are saying. During times of stress and change the volume of that inner dialogue rises a couple of notches which makes it easier to ‘overhear’ what you’re saying to yourself.

Try it. Take a moment to listen to your conversation with yourself.

Now, let me ask you…

Are those words going to help you progress… or will they encourage you to sit on the sidelines?
Will they help you engage with the world… or check out from your mission, your business, and your goals?
Do they encourage your passive despair… or to take personal responsibility for growth and action?

You’re an Empowered Human Being… You Are Responsible for Your Programming!

Whatever you heard yourself saying…

And whatever people around you say…

You get to choose who you listen to!

At the start of this article, I talked about how NLP makes you aware of the language you use. Once you are aware of something, you have the ability to make choices and to change.

If you immerse yourself in pessimism, fear-mongering, and panic (even when there is justification) you can’t help being infected by it. They used to say that a child needed to hear five positive comments for every negative one. Too much criticism meant that they simply couldn’t act on the advice they heard. The same is true for all of us: firstly, we need to be aware of the negativity (accurate or otherwise), secondly, we need to dilute it with positivity.

By all means say abreast of the current situation, but for every 5 minutes of news, spend 25 minutes learning something new, reading a positive book, watching a positive or funny movie, really listening to uplifting music!

N.B. You may get a shock if you actually listening closely to the words of your favourite songs. A lot of them are full of despair, loss, and anxiety that contribute to your negative emotions.

Do You Want to Make the Most of this Time?

One of my most popular live workshops has always been “Confident Closing”. During the workshop we don’t simply address techniques for closing sales, we also discover the relationship between sales and influence, the importance of sales skills for non-‘salespeople’ (i.e. everyone!), how to develop a confident mindset and much more.

Since I’ve had to cancel the upcoming live event, I’m turning it into a Virtual Event – 5 daily sessions of teaching and interaction, with daily Q&A, assignments and more. It will start Monday March 30th at 12:00 AEST. There will be a fresh session each day and also access to recordings.

Don’t press pause on your life just because you need to practice ‘social distancing’… Make this a time of professional and personal growth. Click here for more details https://lifepuzzle.com.au/confident-closing-virtual/

“Energy flows where attention goes. If you focus on your problems they will grow and absorb more and more energy. Is that really what you want?”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

Are You Growing Your Problems or Shrinking them?

There’s a lot of anxiety around the world and the business community at present. I work with executives, business owners, and sales professionals and in my general sessions I’m noticing increasing preoccupation even amongst star performers about their targets, obstacles to achievement, and potential failure.

Here’s what else I’m noticing… The more people focus on these things, the more they become self-fulfilling prophecies!

We’re not talking about non-starters here, we’re talking about people who are achieving above average results, but who are buried under a mound of anxiety…

What about my future health, cancer, etc?
What about my income, employment, promotion?
What about my next performance review?
What about the broader economy?
What about… etc.

Some of these people have already seen their results and performance decline… But what is really fascinating and encouraging is watching the impact that this simple transformation can make on outcomes.

In my sales trainings I talk a lot about the importance of mindset and how you can derail a sale unconsciously because sometimes your unconscious mind is talking so loudly that prospects don’t hear the words you speak. Actually, this isn’t just a problem for business and sales conversations it’s also an issue for your personal relationships, health, wealth and happiness.

What if Your Problems Vanished… Without Your Attention?

This mindset / focus issue doesn’t just apply to sales. Your unconscious mind affects your results in every aspect of your life because what you pay attention to receives energy and grows. It’s not even just personal… If the world is preaching doom and gloom and that’s what most people are listening to then that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and it will affect anyone who isn’t consciously programming their mind towards solutions.

In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) we acknowledge the power of our unconscious mind to shape our happiness, prosperity, relationships, and income and we then harness its power to contribute to the outcomes and solutions we want, rather than creating problems to struggle against. What this means is that what we say to ourselves about the world, others, and our self shapes our experiences and perceptions.

Simply put: Change your thoughts. Change your world!

Nurturing Growth & Abundance

If you look honestly at your thoughts, what do you see?

Are you focused on growth, abundance, and solutions… Or do you focus on your hurt, misery, and failure (real or imagined)? If you pour your energy, focus, and attention into the things you don’t want, they are the things that will grow.

I’m not suggesting that you ignore your problems and simply hope they’ll go away. I’m asking you to identify them and then focus on solutions and constructive thinking patterns that help you build positive habits and support those habits with right thinking. Many clients come to me with years of baggage cluttering their unconscious mind. In just one session (if they also follow my suggestions for follow through) they notice that circumstances and people change around them as well as within them.

How to Fire Your Itty-Bitty-Shitty Committee

Some of you have heard me talk about my passion for inter-generational mental health and how the itty-bitty-shitty committee in your unconscious mind is at the root of many problems… And how firing that can bring healing. I take that seriously because I’ve seen what happens when you try to ignore it.

The fastest way to fire your itty-bitty-shitty committee is to work with a coach who can help you deal with the root problems. That’s what a H.O.W.T.O. Session is designed to help you accomplish. Ongoing accountability and coaching sessions while you establish new thinking patterns can also be helpful. If you’re already certified in NLP and Time Line Therapy® you probably learned many of the techniques that will support you in this journey.

A H.O.W.T.O. Session helps you discover how you’re exacerbating your problems, and what you can do instead that will increase your health, wealth, and happiness.

Book Your H.O.W.T.O. Session

“Most of the time, the solution to sluggish sales isn’t more time, it’s more productive time so you start with analysis and move onto strategy and action.”

~ Chandell Labbozzetta

What’s Working in Your Sales and Marketing?

As a sales trainer and coach I spend a lot of time working with individuals, teams, and groups and the same questions come up quite regularly even from high performing business owners, sales professionals, and others.

As you know if you’ve been following me for any period of time, I’m not a fan of pushy sales techniques or forcing people to buy things they don’t need just so that you can meet your sales targets. My strategy is to help you get in front of people who do need what you are offering and showing them why it’s a good decision to buy… Or not to buy after all, if that’s what you see.

The problem is that if you can’t answer the question, “What’s working in your sales and marketing?” then you don’t know where to start.

How Do You Know That?

If you didn’t answer the question above with some cold, hard numbers about your sales then you don’t have the information you need to make strategic sales and marketing decisions.

Let’s take an example from one of my clients for last year:

23 appointments, 17 clients and $294,600 from referrals
31 appointments, 8 clients and $187,000 from networking
11 appointments, 5 clients and $201,000 from public speaking
28 appointments, 3 clients and $93,000 from book and course sales
40 appointments, 7 clients and $59,000 from articles, social media, and podcasts
… etc.

Most of the time, when you run the numbers, you’ll discover that you’re getting about 80% of your sales from 20% of your activity… But often it’s not the 20% you were expecting.

The client I referenced above had assumed that articles, social media, and podcasts were a great investment of time because they created a lot of activity, but when we ran these numbers he realised that it wasn’t delivering the results he had expected.

What Are You Focusing On?

The reality is that we’re all busy people, faced with competing demands on our time and energy. Since I don’t know anyone who has managed to add more than 24 hours to their day, we need to look at how to use what we have more effectively because there’s only so many hours of sleep and recreation you can cut back on.

The fastest and easiest way to get more done in less time is to focus on two things:

Determine which activities deliver the greatest return on time and energy invested and do more of those; and
Decide what you can do to streamline qualification processes so you can get more sales from less time and energy intense processes.

What Will You Change Now?

My client from the example identified several ways to leverage his time and energy including:

Identifying low-profit buyers and funneling them into a more automated qualifying process;
Refining his elevator pitch so that he elicited greater interest from qualified buyers;
Improving his sales conversation skills and rapport-building so that his appointment close rate for qualified prospects was over 86%;
Developing his prospect qualification process so that he rarely met with prospects who couldn’t or wouldn’t buy;
Refining his “New Client Welcome Kit” so that he spent less time answering generic questions.

Some of these initiatives are still in the making, but overall his profits increased dramatically and he was able to spend more time with his family and training his staff.

“Doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.”

~ Albert Einstein

Identifying the Problem: What Isn’t Working?

The quotation above is often used to justify frequent changes of direction and it certainly fuels ‘shiny-object syndrome’ because after all, if what I’m doing doesn’t deliver the results I’m hoping for, then Einstein tells me I should do something else and, of course, he’s one of the smartest people who ever lived!

Let’s just step back for a moment… We’re talking about business and life, not science.

If I’m trying to solve a scientific or engineering problem this advice holds true. It’s also the rationale behind marketing split tests… But there is an important factor that it doesn’t address: trust and relationship-building and many business owners, sales professionals, and even teachers give up on the cusp of breakthrough.

You need to start by identifying the real problem: what isn’t working?

Do I Need to Change My Strategy or Tactics?

I was talking to Sam, a sales manager, a few weeks ago and he was ready to admit failure. “My team just can’t hit their targets and my manager is saying that it’s my fault. I don’t know what else to tell them that will change the results,” he told me.

As we analysed the situation it became clear that his focus on building up his team and the activities he had invested time and energy in were delivering results and a change of track would set him back. If he wanted to accelerate his results he needed to do more of the things that were already working. This was not the situation that Einstein was talking about.

The thing that he needed to do was to determine whether he could do more of what was working rather than change track. Because of my extensive experience with sales teams we were able to identify two needle-moving activities that could leverage the foundations he had already put in place and deliver quick results and Sam was up for the challenge. Rather than admitting failure or changing his strategy, he simply decided to implement these acceleration tactics.

Don’t Quit! You’re on the Verge of Success.

Sam was feeling as though nothing he did was working and he thought about changing direction, but when he analysed the situation he realised that his best course was to amp up the things he was already doing.

What about you?

Are you taking the much quoted advice out of context?

I’m the first person to tell clients when they need to change their approach, but not before we’ve analysed their goals, actions, and results in the light of business best practices. Sometimes clients don’t have the data they need to make a wise decision about how to move forward. In most cases, the best strategy is to wait and collect the information you need but that is not always good enough. The challenge is deciding what to do when your resources are already stretched thin anyway because you can’t keep doing what you are already doing, and instigate a new direction simultaneously.

How Can I Tell the Difference?

Metrics are key. Lack of information creates confusion because your ‘thoughts’ about what is working and what is not working are often wrong.

In our 13-week Profitable Business Accelerator we spent some time with each student determining what are the most appropriate metrics for their business (different businesses need to measure some different things) and deciding how to make those metrics visible to yourself and your team. Assuming that you have a solid basis for your activity selection and core strategy, it’s not until you have data to back it up that you can decide whether it’s time to persevere and ramp up your efforts, or change direction and try something new.

Need Some Help?

Need some help with determining what you need to change if you hope to experience the satisfaction and success you deserve this year? A HOWTO Session provides you with the clarity you need to uncover your own blind spots and move forward with confidence and determination knowing whether you should persevere or change direction.

Book Your H.O.W.T.O. Session Today!

“We all know that we need to reset our devices regularly so that they perform their best, but how can we reset our hearts and minds?”

What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You!

In fact, it can be dramatically reducing your productivity, happiness, and creativity.

A few weeks ago, I delivered the Keynote Address to over 300 people at the Annual National Conference of an international organisation. Afterwards, I was pleased by the number of people who came up to congratulate me and wanted to work with me further because it means that I did a great job… BUT I was disturbed by the realization of how business and performance stress is impacting people’s health and happiness and preventing them from relaxing and getting the sleep they need.

We all need sleep to function effectively and we know that, but the proportion of people who are using medications or natural remedies to help them sleep is rising each year and the data suggests that it is now over 61%… And that doesn’t include the people who simply put up with insomnia.

The problem is that when you are deprived of sleep (especially if that deprivation is ongoing) your health suffers, your concentration suffers, and your productivity nosedives. Yes, you’ve heard of people like Thomas Jefferson and the Duke of Wellington who slept only 3-5 hours per night, but what we don’t know is how much more they might have accomplished if they had had more sleep. In any case, for the rest of us, lack of sleep is one of the biggest productivity vampires.

Possibly you think that there is nothing you can do about it. Here are some common actions that people take to help them deal with sleep difficulties and deprivation:

Sleeping tablets;
Melatonin;
Herbal teas and sleeping concoctions;
Yoga or meditation before bed;
Hot showers or baths;
Turning off devices and screens and avoiding conflict 30 minutes before bed;
CPAP machines;

… and many other similar strategies. These help some people, but not others and they rarely resolve the underlying problem which is directly responsible for lack of productivity.

The Best Therapist in the World (and they don’t charge by the hour)!

If you ever struggle to fall asleep, I have great news for you. This solution may even help to resolve jet lag.

Don’t let the simplicity of this solution stop you from trying it… Although, like all effective solutions it does demand that you take action rather than simply swallowing a tablet.

Here are the tools that you need:

Pen
Paper or notebook
30 minutes (shortly before bedtime or at least after you have finished working)

All you need to do is set aside at least 30 minutes to write down anything on your mind. This might include:

Frustrations;
Worries;
Situations or people that make you angry;
Problems;
People or situations that bring you joy;
Emotions;
Tasks etc.

Spelling, grammar, expression are not important for this exercise. You don’t even need fully formed thoughts. It’s a full-scale, uncensored, brain dump. No need to organise it and it’s best if you don’t re-read it either. In fact, I suggest you have a second sheet of paper to note down any important tasks or actions that come to mind so that you don’t have to re-read what you’ve written. Just dump it down out of your head and heart and let it go forever.

Striking at the Heart of Your Productivity Vampires

You know how sometimes your computer, phone, or other device gets slower and slower and stops functioning effectively until you decide to reset it? Most of the time, turning the device off, waiting a minute or so, and then turning it on again solves all your problems because your device’s memory had just got clogged up with unfinished tasks.

Well, sleep is like a reset for our brain (and also for our body). It’s only when we sleep that certain hormones are released that clean out our neurosystems and restore the full function of the brain. This means that occasional sleep-deprivation isn’t a problem, but if you struggle to get to sleep night after night and wake up feeling exhausted then lack of sleep is affecting your productivity levels.

The simple tactic above is almost magical. Here’s what one of my clients experienced…

I Had the BEST Sleep I Can Remember in Years!

One of my clients was suffering from chronic insomnia and I tasked her to do this every night before she went to bed… Just take out a notebook and pen and write down everything that was in her head without worrying about whether it was biased, politically correct, accurate, well-expressed or anything else.

“You mean the uncensored version?” she confirmed.

I nodded.

Two days later she called me in great excitement: “Chandell, it’s like magic! I’ve had two nights of unbroken sleep for the first time in I don’t know how long! I’m falling asleep almost immediately, waking up refreshed, and getting more done each day. I’ve even had time to just sit and talk with my husband and play games with the kids as well as finding I’m doing my best work with less effort!

“I felt very uncomfortable the first night putting some of the things I think, but carefully never say down on paper, but I reminded myself that no-one would ever read them. I really like the idea of using loose paper and shredding or maybe even burning it every so often.

“Who would have believed that such a simple prescription could make such a dramatic change.”

And the Moral of the Story is…

If you want to be more productive, then you may not need to invest in a new system, tool, app, or other item that is directly related to productivity. Maybe you just need to take care of your sleep cycle by scheduling in a 30-minute brain dump before bed.

By the way, writing on your computer or electronic journal doesn’t seem to be as effective.

… OR Perception is Projection

Have you ever found life confusing and wished that you understood yourself better?

I find this NLP principle very helpful when it comes to untangling my emotions and responses to life and discovering a more empowering perspective. It’s very powerful in both your personal and professional life, especially if you are feeling threatened by unfolding circumstances or challenged by your performance targets.

So, what is it about and how can I apply it?

Perception is Projection: The NLP Principle

Essentially, this NLP principle describes the fact that what we see in others (especially the things that provoke our emotional responses) are inside ourselves. That is, we see and respond to the faults and failings of others with judgement and criticism based on their existence within ourselves. If we had no inner leaning towards that behaviour we would not see it in others.

This explains why parents are so quick to see and get upset about their children’s failures and flaws… a dispassionate observer would probably say, “Like mother, like daughter;” or “Like father, like son;” on most of them.

When I teach this principle someone in the group will invariably say, “But I can judge a murderer and I would never kill anyone myself.”

Really? When we explore possible scenarios eventually everyone acknowledges that while that would never be their preferred solution they could envisage a situation in which murder could be a justifiable response. In any case, that’s an extreme case, so let’s look at how you can apply this principle every day.

Where are Those Three Fingers Pointing?

When you physically point out a fault in someone else, there are still three fingers pointing back at yourself. This is not a reason to lower the standards of behaviour you expect from others, but it is a reason to examine your own behaviour and allow that sometimes people disappoint themselves as well as others.

In pursuit of quick solutions to self-esteem modern education and society encourages us to blame others for our failings (as if we need much encouragement to do this anyway). It may be comforting to think that we are ‘under-appreciated’, victimised, overlooked, etc. but that is an extremely disempowering way to live.

Perception is projection allows me to ‘feel’ that inferiority, insignificance, anger, resentment, and then look inside and ask, “Is there something inside myself that I need to deal with so that I can be happier, more productive, and more fun?” It’s not about feeling guilty, it’s about acknowledging my need to grow.

Using ‘Perception is Projection’

So, what can I do with this new way of looking at my responses?

Let’s look at a couple of scenarios to start you thinking:

Criticism/Feedback: Many people respond to feedback by getting angry or rejecting it completely. They simply have not mechanism for learning and growing from it. Next time someone criticises you or a job you have done, look at the emotions that well up. Are you defensive? Angry? Or…? Ask yourself where that emotion comes from and why you react that way. It is rarely an appropriate level of response to what actually was said or done. It may take a few tries to get a genuine answer, but the insight will help you grow and move forward.
Failure: Which takes you longer to move past: the realisation that you have not met your own standards, or the awareness that you didn’t meet someone else’s standards? The degree to which you hold on to your own failures is often a measure of how severely you judge others for their failures. A client who was almost viciously judgemental of others unpunctuality realised that this sprang from insecurity and a desire to control others. Once he recognised that, he was able to let go of intense anger in many areas and find physical and emotional healing.

A negative, defensive response to unwanted criticism or unpleasant circumstances and people is both natural and healthy. The question is what we do with that response and how we let it shape our future. When a bear is chasing you, running away is an appropriate response. Once you’ve outrun the bear, it’s a good time to stop and evaluate where you are before you run into something worse.

Use the ‘perception is projection’ principle to help you gain empowering insight into what you need to do.

Do You Need Some Help

We all get caught up in our heads. Sometimes we need some help from an objective ‘unreasonable friend’ to help us find a more empowering way of seeing our life and relationships. A H.O.W.T.O. Session help you do this, and much more. If you can invest 90 minutes and a small fee I can work with you to set your free from negative viewing patterns and set you on the path to the success that you deserve.

Book Your H.O.W.T.O. Session – Link to https://lifepuzzle.com.au/book-your-h-o-w-t-o-session/

The Secret Method few People Use

When I ask business owners what they want most, there are a few top answers including:

More time;
Better business skills; and
More profitable sales;

But when we boil it down, it really turns out that what they need is more appointments with qualified prospects… because that turns into less time wasted and more profitable sales.

I love the fact that this is their biggest desire, because the solution is right there in front of you: a piece of equipment that you already own and use often… your mobile phone.

It makes sense, when you think about it. Email and social media are overcrowded, you may even be overwhelmed by text messages, but when you call, you stand out.

Maybe you find cold calling intimidating… even terrifying. Lots of people do, including the team I worked with which was the basis of my book, “Confident Closing”. But, it’s a great way to create opportunities, make appointments, and generate income, and, if you use it in conjunction with social media and email, it doesn’t even need to be all that “cold”.

My 9-Step Cold Calling System

Know your product or service inside and out;
Make a list of all the reasons it would be worthwhile purchasing it;
Uncover all the questions prospects might ask about it;
Find meaningful answers to those questions;
Create a script to explain your product or service, record that script, and learn it by heart;
Think of 3 ‘hook statements’ you could use to introduce yourself. These are things you could say that would make your ideal prospect really curious about your solution and you can also use them if you need to leave a voice message. Have a 10 second version ready as well;
Identify 10 people who would be ideal prospects.
Mentally prepare yourself for the call and visualise a successful outcome.
Pick up the phone and test your ‘hook statements’ and script by calling your prospects. Do this in a single block while you’re in the mood and have momentum. If a person doesn’t answer, leave a voice message using one of your ‘hook statements’.

You’ll notice this is not an effortless process – like most things that get results it takes real work and thought, but you’ll be surprised at how many appointments you can actually generate using this process…

I usually end up with about 8 or 9 appointments from every 10 calls, if I’ve chosen my candidates properly (and I often close almost 85% of my appointments), but anything over 3 out of 10 represents a significant number of potential sales and, if you’ve done a good job of outlining your product or service during the call, you can expect to close over 70% of your appointments.

… but you can change that.

Most people let others off the hook because they want to be seen as a nice person and because we are conditioned to believe that calling people out is neither nice nor kind.

That is absolutely wrong!

Letting people get away with unreliability is one the cruellest thing you can do to anyone of any age because it teaches them to lie to themselves and break promises to themselves.

“Nice” is one of those words people use when they can’t think of anything positive to say, but don’t want to offend someone.

Maybe the following acronym will make you think twice next time you are considering giving someone an easy way out:-

Nothing
Inside me
Cares
Enough to…

tell you you’re behaving badly and hurting or offending others
make sure you realise the consequences of your action (or inaction)
enable you to move forward and achieve your goals
set standards and hold you to them

“NICE” is really a polite way of saying, “I don’t care about you or your life.”

Is that really the person you want to be? Do you really care so little about your family, friends, colleagues, and clients?
…Or have you been brainwashed into thinking that calling someone out is kind, when it’s really killing you, your friends and family.
N.B. I’m not suggesting that you’re nasty to people, but lovingly honest, especially about their excuses.

It’s true, calling people (including yourself) out when they fail to:

Arrive on time (or at all)
Deliver on their promises
Give notice of changes
Complete projects
Take care of themselves

…is not particularly comfortable.

However, accepting those excuses and giving a non-committal response won’t help anyone make the changes they need to make to go the places they want to go.

Should I Let Him Off?

Recently one of my coaching clients showed up for a session unprepared. Normally he’s very diligent about completing his tasks, but this time he hadn’t even looked at them.

My first thought (after hearing about his week and the reasons he hadn’t completed the tasks) was to say, “Well, that’s okay, I’ll let you off this once.” But then I thought about the patterns in his life and business and the reasons he was coming to me for coaching in the first place. Although this was the first time in over six months, he had done this in the context of his coaching, breaking promises to himself was an underlying behaviour.

So I thought…

“Is letting him off the hook really the kindest thing I can do for him? Would I be breaking my side of the coaching agreement if I did so.”

Holding him to his commitment didn’t save me any time. However, the discussion we had helped him to realise some ingrained and unconscious behaviours that were holding him back from achieving his goals.

Carl Jung says, “That which was unconscious, when made conscious ceases to exist.”

When my client returned the following week, with his tasking thoroughly completed, he said this,
“Chandell, I was so furious when you refused to have our session last week! Even after you had talked to me and explained why you were doing so and how holding me to my agreement would actually help me get my outcomes, I was mad inside. As I drove home, I was looking for loopholes to get out of our coaching agreement, but then I realised why you had done this and I saw all the other areas of my life that I was undermining by this sort of behaviour. Thank you for caring enough to challenge me.”

Learning how to call others out when they are betraying their own principles is an important skill, it takes courage, commitment, and caring. It’s one of the reasons my clients work with me.

Have You seen my “The Secret of Making People Want to Work With You” webinar? Check it out here: – https://businessgrowth.mykajabi.com/secret-people-want-work-you

#TuesdayTips

Understanding how people think isn’t just a good sales technique, it also is a great relationship-building skill that helps in all areas of your life!

I’ve already talked about how Internal Representation Systems (IRS) work and how identifying them can help you communicate better on many levels. This post is focused on identifying the vocabulary clues that reveal the preferred Internal Representation System of the person you are talking to.

One of the objections I often hear about developing rapport is that it is tricky to focus on your prospect’s argument while simultaneously trying to subtly match and mirror aspects of their behaviour, another is that it is impossible to do this when you are talking on the phone since you can’t see the person you are talking to. The exciting thing about using a person’s vocabulary to establish rapport is that it is relatively easy to pick up their preferred Internal Representation System and you can use it in every social situation (except possibly at a noisy party).

What Are the Major Internal Representation Systems?

Visual:

The Visual person focuses on visual predicates that reflect their visual perception of the world around them. You’ll hear visual words like:

See;
Look;
Show;
Reveal;
Illuminate;
Foggy;
Imagine;
Picture;
View;
Dawn;

Auditory:

The Auditory person focuses on the sounds of words, ideas, and proposals. They use words like:

Hear;
Listen;
Tune in (or out);
Ring a bell;
Silence;
Resonate;
Question;
Make music;
Deaf;
Sound;

Kinaesthetic:

The Kinaesthetic person is concerned about sensations and movement. Their vocabulary includes words like:

Hard;
Catch on;
Tap into;
Feel;
Solid;
Grasp;Touch;
Throw out;
Unfeeling;
Make contact;

Auditory-Digital:

The Auditory-Digital person engages in a lot of self-talk and internal processing and the vocabulary they use reflects that internal dialogue, with words like:

Know;
Process;
Consider;
Decide;
Understand;
Experience;
Learn;
Motivate;
Change;
Perceive;

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, and you will rarely hear predicates drawn from just one representational system in a conversation that is more than a few minutes long, but if you keep your ears open for the general trends you will know which key words to focus on in your response to a prospect or client and you will find that your close rate improves dramatically.

After all, good sales people are constantly improving their skills, and one of the most vital skills in any sales situation is developing rapport with the other person – otherwise you end up with a high return rate once your prospects have a chance to get away from your overpowering personality.

Before we close, I’d like to remind you that your preferred Internal Representation System is not fixed. It can shift over time and even from day to day, so this is a guide, not a box to place yourself or others into. During Confident Closing workshops we use a short diagnostic test to help participants identify their preferred Internal Representation System, but we stress the importance of expanding your vocabulary, and becoming more flexible in this area of communication.

Meta Description: The words you use make up less than 10% of your total communication, yet they are powerful tool in building rapport and understanding the things that matter to your people within minutes of starting a conversation with them.

Book your complimentary 30-minute Discovery Session with Chandell.

By popular demand we have turned many of our multi-day workshops into multi-week online courses with a live day to kick them off. Learn more at https://businessgrowth.mykajabi.com/masteryoursales