Back to the Gulf
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 29, 2007
This has been a busy month so far.
This has been a busy month so far. On Monday, November 5th, I spoke all day for 500 sales people and entrepreneurs in Chicago on the subjects of personal and sales success.
On Tuesday, November 6th, I spoke for Larry Bailin and more than three hundred highly motivated entrepreneurs and sales people in Edison New Jersey for half a day.
After New Jersey, I flew to Toronto and conducted two three-hour seminars for Jonathan Weaver and Peak Performers on Wednesday, November 7th.
On Thursday, November 8th, I arose in Toronto, packed two bags, my large suitcase for everything I needed for the next eight days, plus my carryon suitcase with my essential clothes and materials for the next three-four days. I checked in my large suitcase at the Toronto airport, flew to New York, transferred at JFK to a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight and spent the next eleven hours flying across the world to Jeddah and Riyadh, deep in “The Kingdom.”
I arrived on time but my large suitcase disappeared. Leading to ten days of telephone calls and text messages, back and forth, seeking my lost bag all over the western world. It finally arrived home in San Diego on November 24, 16 days after disappearing.
Fortunately, I always carry my essential clothes and material in a carryon bag, just in case my larger bag is lost for any reason. Because of this, I was able to continue on speaking in Saudi Arabia, Poland, Germany and Turkey for the next week with only minor inconveniences, and no serious problems. I recommend this strategy, of carrying your essentials with you, to anyone who travels long distances.
Because of $90 oil, the oil producing countries of the gulf are awash with billions of petro dollars. They are investing this money in building their countries into ultra modern states, plus putting this money to work in Europe and America.
My clients in Saudi Arabia, Lal Khaleej Corporation is the most successful training company in Saudi Arabia and in the entire Gulf region. They have fourteen hundred professional trainers and course development specialists, offering courses that cover the entire gamut, from English immersion through to every aspect of business development. It was a pleasure to meet with them and to work with them.
As usual, I read and study on the areas I visit, as extensively as possible, before going. Muslims believe that the Koran is the absolutely indisputable word of God, relayed from Allah to Mohammad, his messenger. They believe that not a single word can be questioned or debated, the Koran is considered to be a divine book that cannot be altered or even clearly explained in any other language other than Arabic.
Followers of Islam believe that the Koran, being the inspired the inspired word of Allah, answers all questions and explains all life situations. For this reason, followers of Islam are called “People of the book.”
This means that they believe that “Everything is written.” There are no disputes that the Koran does not settle. For this reason, followers of Islam are quite accepting of whatever happens in the world.
The 3 Fastest Ways to Close More Sales
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 28, 2007
Every person who’s ever tried to close a sale has been through it.
Every person who’s ever tried to close a sale has been through it. You’ve talked to a good prospect three or four times. You think they are ready to buy. But just when you think you’ll be able to close the sale, it stalls.
How many times have you lost a sale or had to work way too hard to close the ones you got? I’m sure you’ve heard every possible objection a prospect could give ranging from "now’s not the right time," to "it’s too expensive" to "we’re not interested," and many more.
Is it realistic to expect your sales pitch or your ads to grab your prospect’s attention, capture their imagination, and prompt them to buy from you in 15 seconds or less? Of course not, but your ads can get the sales conversation started - if you know which words to include in them.
Doesn’t it drive you nuts when you’ve got a prospect that could truly benefit from your product or service and you struggle to close the sale? How many times have you lost a sale or had to work way too hard to close?
What if you could close an additional 10 to 30% more in less time?
I’m going to tell you how in just a few seconds but first let me ask you a question.
Why is it that when someone refers a prospect to you, you can close the sale almost every time? You know what I’m talking about. One of your existing clients, someone who loves your products and services tells a friend or business colleague about their experience with your firm and tells them to contact you.
When you get a referral the prospect is ready to buy. It usually only takes one or two short conversations for you to close the sale. Everyone loves referrals for this reason. You can close more sales with less effort and less expense.
Why is it so easy to close the sale when the prospect is referred to you by one of your best customers?
Nine times out of ten, a referral already understands the value of your products and services. They are somewhat familiar with your firm and they trust you. They’re ‘pre-sold’ and ready to buy.
Don’t you wish you could ‘pre-sell’ all your prospects? Instead of spending time countering objections from prospects, you could maximize your marketing time talking to people who want to buy.
Preselling is easier than you think
Pre-selling your prospects is easier than you think, and even if you don’t have a steady stream of referrals. You can use these 3 simple ideas to sell more with less effort.
1. Let Your Prospects Sell Themselves
What do you do when a prospect asks what you can do for them and how much it costs? These two questions can instantly put you on the defensive and then you’re stuck trying to convince the prospect of the value of your services.
No one likes to be "sold" but most people like to buy. Get prospects to ’sell’ themselves. Ask questions to take control of the conversation. Get your prospects to tell you what they want and why your service is the right one for them.
2. Instantly Establish the Value of Your Products and Services
Ever get stuck with the "it costs too much" objection? Do the same thing your best client would do if they were telling a business colleague about your services; tell stories about clients to show prospects the results they can expect.
3. Eliminate Every Obstacle to a Sale
What happens when a client has doubts that you haven’t addressed? Whether the objection is that your firm is too small or that you haven’t worked for that exact type of company before, what happens when you leave these potential obstacles hanging?
An objection can kill the sale in a blink of an eye. Avoid this by addressing objections up front. Ask your prospect to tell you which ones you forgot, and eliminate every obstacle to the sale.
21 Great Ways to Become a Sales Superstar
The Golden Hour
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 27, 2007
You become what you think about most of the time.
You become what you think about most of the time. And the most important part of each day is what you think about at the beginning of that day.
Start Your Day Right
Take 30 minutes each morning to sit quietly and to reflect on your goals. You’ll find when you read the biographies and autobiographies of successful men and women that almost everyone of them began their upward trajectory to success when they begin getting up early in the morning and spending time with themselves.
Feed Your Mind With Positive Ideas
This is called the Golden Hour. The first hour sets the tone for the day. The things that you do in the first hour prepare your mind and set you up for the entire day. During the first thirty to sixty minutes, take time to think and review your plans for the future.
Use Your Quiet Time Effectively
Here are four things that you can do during that quiet time in the morning. Number one is to review your plans for accomplishing your goals and change your plans if necessary.
Number two is think of better ways to accomplish your goals. As an exercise, assume that the way you’re going about it is totally wrong and imagine going about it totally differently. What would you do different from what you’re doing right now?
Number three, reflect on the valuable lessons that you have learned and are learning as you move toward your goals.
Practice Daily Visualization
Number four, calmly visualize your goal as a reality. Close your eyes, relax, smile, and see your goal as though it were already a reality. Rewrite your major goals everyday in the present tense. Rewrite them as though they already existed. Write "I earn X dollars." "I have a net worth of X." "I weigh a certain number of pounds." This exercise of writing and rewriting your goals everyday is one of the most powerful you will ever learn.
Fasten Your Seatbelt
Your life will start to take off at such a speed that you’ll have to put on your seatbelt. Remember, the starting point for achieving financial success is the development of an attitude of unshakable confidence in yourself and in your ability to reach your goals. Everything we’ve talked about is a way of building up and developing your belief system until you finally reach the point where you are absolutely convinced that nothing can stop you from achieving what you set out to achieve.
Everything Counts
No one starts out with this kind of an attitude, but you can develop it using the law of accumulation. Everything counts. No efforts are ever lost. Every extraordinary accomplishment in the result of thousands of ordinary accomplishments that no one recognizes or appreciates. The greatest challenge of all is for you to concentrate your thinking single-mindedly on your goal and by the law of attraction, you will, you must inevitably draw into your life the people, circumstances and opportunities you need to achieve your goals.
Become A Living Magnet
Once you’ve mastered yourself and your thinking, you will become a living magnet for ideas and opportunities to become wealthy. It’s worked for me and for every successful person I know. It will work for you if you’ll begin today, now, this very minute, to think and talk about your dreams and goals as though they were already a reality. When you change your thinking, you will change your life. You will put yourself firmly on the road to financial independence.
Action Exercises
Now, here are two things you can do every single day to keep your mind focused on your financial goals:
First, get up every morning a little bit earlier and plan your day in advance. Take some time to think about your goals and how you can best achieve them. This sets the tone for the whole day.
Second, reflect on the valuable lessons you are learning each day as you work toward your goals. Be prepared to correct your course and adjust your actions. Be absolutely convinced that you are moving rapidly toward your goals, no matter what happens temporarily on the outside. Just hang in there!
Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
The Key to Long-Term Success
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 27, 2007
Successful people have been studied in depth for more than 100 years.
Successful people have been studied in depth for more than 100 years. They have been interviewed extensively to determine what it is they do and how they think that enables them to accomplish so much more than the average person.
In this Newsletter, you learn the most important single factor of long-term success and how you can build it into your personality and your attitude. You learn how to virtually guarantee yourself a great future.
The Harvard Discovery on Success
In 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University wrote a book entitled The Unheavenly City. He described one of the most profound studies on success and priority setting ever conducted.
Banfield’s goal was to find out how and why some people became financially independent during the course of their working lifetimes. He started off convinced that the answer to this question would be found in factors such as family background, education, intelligence, influential contacts, or some other concrete factor. What he finally discovered was that the major reason for success in life was a particular attitude of mind.
Develop Long Time Perspective
Banfield called this attitude "long time perspective." He said that men and women who were the most successful in life and the most likely to move up economically were those who took the future into consideration with every decision they made in the present. He found that the longer the period of time a person took into consideration while planning and acting, the more likely it was that he would achieve greatly during his career.
For example, one of the reasons your family doctor is among the most respected people in America is because he or she has invested many years of hard work and study to finally earn the right to practice medicine. After university courses, internship, residency and practical training, a doctor may be more than 30 years old before he or she is capable of earning a good living. But from that point onward, these men and women are some of the most respected and most successful professional people in any society. They had long time perspectives.
Measure the Potential Future Impact
The key to success in setting priorities is having a long time perspective. You can tell how important something is today by measuring its potential future impact on your life.
For example, if you come home from work at night and choose to play with your children or spend time with your spouse, rather than watch TV or read the paper, you have a long time perspective. You know that investing time in the health and happiness of your children and your spouse is a very valuable, high-priority use of time. The potential future impact of quality time with your family is very high.
If you take additional courses in the evening to upgrade your skills and make yourself more valuable to your employer, you’re acting with a long time perspective. Learning something practical and useful can have a long-term effect on your career.
Practice Delayed Gratification
Economists say that the inability to delay gratification-that is, the natural tendency of individuals to spend everything they earn plus a little bit more, and the mind-set of doing what is fun, easy and enjoyable-is the primary cause of economic and personal failure in life. On the other hand, disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem and personal satisfaction.
The long term comes soon enough, and every sacrifice that you make today will be rewarded with compound interest in the great future that lies ahead for you.
Action Exercises
Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, think long-term. Sit down today and write out a description of your ideal life ten and twenty years into the future. This automatically develops longer-time perspective.
Second, look at everything you do in terms of its long-term potential impact on your life. Do more things that have greater long-term value to you.
Third, develop the habit of delaying gratification in small things, small expenditures, small pleasures, so that you can enjoy greater rewards and greater satisfaction in the future.
The Central Skill
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 19, 2007
Time management is the central skill of success.
Time management is the central skill of success. Your ability to manage your time, to focus and channel your energies on your highest value tasks, will determine your rewards and your level of accomplishment in life more than any other factor.
Success Leaves Tracks
When I began searching for the secrets of success many years ago, I discovered an interesting principle: success leaves tracks. A wise man who had studied success for more than 50 years concluded that the greatest success principle of all was, "learn from the experts."
Learn From the Experts
If you want to be a big success in any area, find out what other successful people in that area are doing, and do the same things, until you get the same results. When I studied the interviews, speeches, biographies and autobiographies of successful men and women, I found that they all had one quality in common. They were all described as being "extremely well organized." They used their time very, very well. They were highly productive and they got vastly more done in the same period of time than the average person.
Be Both Effective and Efficient
High performing men and women were both effective and efficient. They did the right things, and they did them in the right way. They were constantly looking for ways to improve the quality and quantity of their output. As a result, their contribution to their organizations was vastly higher and therefore much better paid, than the contributions of the average person.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, develop a study plan today to learn from the experts in your field. This can save you years of hard work.
Second, decide what is the most important thing to do, and then decide how to do it.
Speaking Power
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 14, 2007
All successful businesses and successful salespeople do certain things in common, over and over again.
Last week, I was invited by Mark Victor Hanson to give a talk at his Mega Speaking Empire Conference in Los Angeles at the Westin by Los Angeles International Airport.
More than 800 people had registered and turned out to learn how to speak professionally and promote themselves as speakers, trainers and consultants. The information presented was tremendous, as were the different speakers who explained the craft of speaking, and demonstrated what an excellent speaker looked like on the platform in front of an audience.
As usual, my contribution was to give the “Meat and potatoes” of speaking to create what I call the “spine and ribs” of the profession. I managed to do this by sharing the seven “P’s” of business success.
These “Big Seven” are Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Packaging, Positioning, People. In brief, my message was simple: You must be clear about the product or service you offer, and the specific benefits that your potential customer will get from it if they purchase it from you. You must carefully think through your price so that it is correct in relationship to the competitive market around you. You must vigorously mark it and sell your product all day long if you are going to rise above the crowd. You must be careful in choosing exactly where, the place that you sell your product or service. You’re packaging must be excellent, equal to or better than your competitors, if you want to be believable. You must position yourself in such a way that people think of you as the best choice in your field. Every person who works for your company must present a positive image so that people like them and respect them.
The point that I make is that, a single change in any one of these seven areas can dramatically change your business. Whenever your personal, business or sales are not as successful as you like, you should review the seven P’s and look for a way to change or modify them in some way.
Business is a science, based on proven recipes and formula’s. All successful businesses and successful salespeople do certain things in common, over and over again. Your job is to find out what they are, and then do them yourself, over and over, until you get the same results that they do.
Have a good week.
Brian Tracy
Move Out of Your Comfort Zone
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 13, 2007
Any change, or even an attempt to change anything you are doing, makes you uncomfortable.
Any change, or even an attempt to change anything you are doing, makes you uncomfortable. By attempting to change, you move out of your comfort zone. You feel increasingly uneasy. You experience stress and tension. If the change is too extreme, your physical and mental health can be affected. You will experience sleeplessness, indigestion, or fatigue. You may react with impatience, irritability or anger. You will often feel as if you are on an emotional roller-coaster.
Raise Your Internal Standards
So if you want to sell more and earn more, you must increase your self-concept level of income. You must increase the amount you believe yourself capable of earning. You must raise your aspirations, set higher goals, and make detailed plans to achieve them. You must begin to see yourself and think about yourself as capable of being one of the highest earning salespeople in your field. You must take charge of developing a new self-concept for sales and income that is more consistent with what you really want to accomplish.
Build Your Self-Concept Level of Income
Your self-concept determines your levels of performance and effectiveness in everything you do. In sales, you have a series of mini-self-concepts that govern every activity of selling. You have a self-concept for prospecting, for using the telephone, for cold calling, for making appointments, for qualifying, for presenting, for answering questions, for closing, for getting referrals, and for making follow-up sales. You have a self-concept of your level of product knowledge, your personal management skills, your level of motivation and for the way that you relate to different types of customers. In every case, you will always perform in a manner consistent with your self-concept.
The Key to Peak Performance
Wherever you have a high self-concept, you perform well. If you enjoy working on the telephone, you look forward eagerly to telephone prospecting and selling and you do it well. If you have a high self-concept for making presentations or for closing sales, you feel comfortable and competent whenever you are doing them.
Wherever you feel tense or uneasy in selling, it means that you have a low self-concept in that area. You do not feel comfortable when you are engaged in that activity. You probably avoid that activity as much as possible.
This is normal and natural. The only question is, "What are you going to do about it?"
Action Exercises
Here are two actions you can take immediately to get better results.
First, set a goal today to become one of the highest earning people in your field. Then, back your goal with action by committing to becoming very good in every area of selling.
Second, see yourself, imagine and visualize yourself as if you are already very good at what you do. Create within yourself the feeling of success and accomplishment.
Remember, as within, so without!
The Science of Self Confidence
The Momentum Principle of Success
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 12, 2007
Fast tempo seems to go hand in hand with all great success.
Fast tempo seems to go hand in hand with all great success. Developing this tempo requires that you start moving and keep moving at a steady rate.
The Key Action to Orientation
When you become an action-oriented person, you activate the "Momentum Principle" of success. This principle says that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get going initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going.
Increase Your Energy
The good news is that the faster you move, the more energy you have. The faster you move, the more you get done and the more effective you feel. The faster you move, the more experience you get and the more you learn. The faster you move, the more competent and capable you become at your work.
Get Onto the Fast Track
A sense of urgency shifts you automatically onto the fast track in your career. The faster you work and the more you get done, the higher will be your levels of self-esteem, self-respect and personal pride.
Talk to Yourself Positively
One of the simplest and yet most powerful ways to get yourself started is to repeat the words, "Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!" over and over to yourself. If you feel yourself slowing or becoming distracted by conversations or low value activities, repeat to yourself the words, "Back to work! Back to work! Back to work!" over and over.
Get A Reputation for Speed
In the final analysis, nothing will help you more in your career than for you to get the reputation for being the kind of person who gets important work done quickly and well. This reputation will make you one of the most valuable and respected people in your field.
Action Exercises
Practice makes perfect! Pick up the tempo! Whatever you are doing, resolve to move faster than ever before.
Learn how to earn income with Brian Tracy’s products…
http://www.briantracy.com/affiliateprogram/default.aspx
Improve the Quality of Your Thinking
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 8, 2007
Anyone, Starting From Wherever They Are, Can Become Wealthy
Anyone, Starting From Wherever They Are, Can Become Wealthy
In one series of I.Q. tests given to children ages 2 - 4 years, 95% of the children were found to be highly creative with curious, questioning minds and an ability for abstract thinking.
When the same children were tested again at age 7, only 5% still demonstrated high levels of creativity. In the ensuing years, they had learned to conform; "If you want to get along, you had better go along," is what they had discovered.
The Dangers of Conformity
They had learned to color between the lines, to sit in neat little rows, to do and say what the other kids did and said, and to do as they were told. Over time, they lost the wonderful fearless spontaneity of youth and learned to suppress ideas and insights that were unusual or different.
Aggressively Seek New Ideas
Most of us have had similar experiences. The "Not invented-here" syndrome in many large companies is simply the adult version of "not rocking the boat." But fortunately, since creativity is your birthright, a fundamental part of your nature, you can tap into it at any time, no matter how long it has been since you really used it.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to start thinking outside of your mental box.
First, imagine that there was a vastly better, cheaper, faster way to do your job - and somebody else had already discovered it and was going to put you out of business.
Second, imagine doing exactly the opposite of what you are doing today. Allow your mind to float freely and consider how current trends will change your business.
Change Your Thinking Change Your Life
Always Be Positive
Posted by Brian Tracy on Nov 7, 2007
The most important quality for success in entrepreneurship and in life is the quality of optimism.
The wildfires swept through San Diego in October, destroying hundreds of houses. The air was full of smoke for days, filling the nostrils and burning the eyes. Homes were on fire within a mile of us.
Every couple of hours, we got a "reverse 911" call to tell us if we were under "voluntary evacuation" or "mandatory evacuation." If we received "mandatory evacuation" orders, we would have 30 minutes to pack and leave.
Fortunately, the fires never got too near to our house, and we never had to evacuate. Today, the city is back to normal and life goes on. This experience reminded me once again about the importance of remaining positive, no matter what happens.
The most important quality for success in entrepreneurship and in life is the quality of optimism. Optimists have an unrealistic expectation of success. As a result, they are willing to try far more things without becoming discouraged. In addition, because of their unrealistically positive attitude, they are willing to persist much longer than the average person. Optimism is a wonderful quality as long as you have it under control.
Temper Your Optimism
In order to be successful in business, and in any activity where your money is involved, you must temper your optimism with negativism. You must be enthusiastic about the possible upside of the investment but you must be skeptical, critical, suspicious and demanding about all the different ways that your money can be lost.
Listen to Negative Viewpoints
Seek out and listen carefully to people who are negative toward your idea. Look for negative thinkers, because their viewpoints can be invaluable and save you a fortune in time and money. I have a friend who is a lawyer. And he recommends and gives advice to many people on investments. And what he does is this. When someone comes and they want to make an investment that he’s unsure about, he says, all right, I want you to come to my office and I want you to sit behind my desk. And then I’m going to come in and I’m going to present this investment to you and I want you to critique this investment as if you were me.
Help Others to Evaluate Honestly
And he says that when his clients begin critiquing the investments they’re thinking about going into, when they begin becoming negative thinkers about the investments, he says they are astonished at how bad the investments really are. He said he has saved his clients millions of dollars by forcing them to be negative thinkers about their own ideas, simply by switching roles and sitting in front of the desk while they sit behind the desk.
Keep Your Mind Open
But don’t be overly influenced by negative thinkers. Just take their viewpoints into consideration. There’s a famous story of Mary Hudson, who started off with 200 dollars in the middle of the Depression and leased a gas station that two men had gone broke running at two different occasions. And from that she built a company called Hudson Oil, which is now the biggest independent distributor of gas and oil in the United States. From a 200 dollar investment, even though everybody told her she would fail. So remember, listen to negative thinkers, but don’t necessarily accept their advice.
When the inevitable fires and storms happen in your business life, no matter what anyone says, you must remain positive and optimistic, and take full control of your situation.
