Posted by Brian Tracy on Apr 30, 2008
The Invitational Close is simple, low-key, classy and powerful.
You use it at the end of a sales conversation to conclude the transaction. It is preceded by a Trial Close such as: "Mr. Prospect, do you have any questions or concerns that I haven’t covered up to now?" Or, "Mr. Prospect, does this make sense to you, so far?"
Probe for Lingering Objections
You ask these questions to be doubly sure that the prospect has no final objections lurking in the back of his mind that would block the closing of the sales process. You then invite the customer to make a buying decision by saying, "If you like what I’ve shown you, why don’t you give it a try?"
Invite the Customer to Buy
Inviting the customer to buy is very powerful. This is a gentle way of nudging the customer into taking action. "Why don’t you give it a try?" If you are selling services, you can ask, "Why don’t you give us a try?" If you want to be more bold and direct, you can simply ask, "Why don’t you take it?"
Change Your Wording
One of my seminar graduates doubled his sales by changing his words in the endgame of selling. After his sales presentation he would ask the prospect if he had any additional questions or concerns. If the prospect said "no," he would then ask, "Well, if you like it, why don’t you take it?"
He was amazed to find that many prospects could not think of a good reason not to go ahead with his offering immediately. Both his closing ratio and his income soared.
Action Exercises
Here is something you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
The next time you complete your sales presentation, simply issue an invitation to the customer to make a decision. "Why don’t you give it a try?"
You may be surprised at your success.
The Art of Closing the Sale
Tags: Sales Success
Posted by Brian Tracy on Apr 23, 2008
“Building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish.�?
Last week, Barbara and I flew up to Vancouver to meet with Ib Muller and drive to the Whistler Ski Resort, two hours north of Vancouver.
We skied for most of Saturday and Sunday, had dinner in a wonderful restaurant Saturday night, and stayed at the Fairmont Hotel at the Vancouver Airport Sunday night prior to our return flight on Monday morning to San Diego.
On Tuesday, we boarded our flight to Atlanta for a four day meeting of the Heritage Foundation at the Four Seasons Hotel in Downtown Atlanta.
The Heritage Foundation is the “800 pound Gorilla” of conservative think tanks in the world today. It started as an idea in 1973, funded by several friends of liberty and free enterprise, and has since grown to more than 200 professionals working out of a large office complex on Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington DC.
The motto of the Heritage Foundation is, “Building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish.”
For three days, some of the best thinkers and speakers on economics, welfare and entitlements, employment, national defense, and the environment came together to share ideas and experiences, and to suggest policy prescriptions to assure that America remains the “Best hope for mankind.”
There are two basic philosophies that define our political system today. The first philosophy, the Heritage position believes in limited government, lower taxes, less regulation, and greater freedom and opportunity for the individual. Heritage believes that non-government activities provide more effective solutions to the inevitable problems that arise in a large country with 300 million people.
The other side of the political spectrum believes in greater government, higher taxation, more regulation on businesses and individuals, and a welfare state where as many people as possible are depended upon the government in some way.
Each person, each voter in our society, must eventually make a choice. Do you believe in greater freedom and opportunity for the individual, or do you believe in greater taxes, regulation and control of individuals by the government?
Ludwig Von Mises once said that every society exists along a spectrum of total enslaved to totally free. Of all societies, the United States has offered greater freedom and opportunity than any other society in human history. But what Von Mises, and others, concluded was that every growth of government taxation, regulation and control over the individual American moves the society along the spectrum toward total slavery. It is a gradual process, one degree at a time, but it is the reason and explanation why, throughout the centuries, countries have gone from relatively free to completely un-free.
Fortunately, American’s are an exceptional people in that they love their personal freedom and liberty more than that of virtually any other nationality on earth. No matter how many government officials or bureaucrats attempt to limit personal freedom with taxes and regulation, the American people continue to fight back through their representatives and alone, if necessary.
At the Heritage Foundation meeting, we heard from Karl Rove recently the personal advisor to President George W. Bush, and the architect of his electoral victories in 2000, 2002 and 2004. Karl Rove is a warm, witty, charming man, telling stories and jokes about people and politics in America. His talk was scheduled for 20 minutes but he went on for almost an hour, to the delight of everyone in the audience. This is the second time that I have met Karl Rove and on both occasions, he has been a friendly and enjoyable person to associate with.
On Saturday night, Edward Meese III, previous attorney general in the administration of President Ronald Reagan, spoke to us for almost an hour on the evolving political situation in America, and especially the legal situation.
I have known Ed Meese for almost twenty years. He is a real gentleman, and an incredible brain. He has a wonderful ability to pull together threads of ideas from many sources and weave them into a spellbinding talk that is funny, informational and uplifting.
As the political silly season continues its relentless march toward the republican and democratic conventions this summer, it is important for each person to keep in mind the issues that are at stake. One group wants greater freedom and opportunity for more people. Another group wants more taxes, regulations and government control on more people. The individual voter will be forced to decide which of these two visions represents what he or she believes is best for American in the long term.
Subscribers and readers of this blog are usually among the smartest people in American. This is why it is so important that you take the time to inform yourself and fully understand the issues rather than being caught up in the emotions and contradictions of the campaign. I will talk to you again soon.
Brian Tracy
Tags: Brian's Words of Wisdom
Posted by Brian Tracy on Apr 21, 2008
Create a Big Vision
To become a motivational leader, you start with motivating yourself. You motivate yourself with a big vision, and as you move progressively toward its realization, you motivate and enthuse others to work with you to fulfill that vision.
Set High Standards
You exhibit absolute honesty and integrity with everyone in everything you do. You are the kind of person others admire and respect and want to be like. You set a standard that others aspire to. You live in truth with yourself and others so that they feel confident giving you their support and their commitment.
Face Your Fears
You demonstrate courage in everything you do by facing doubts and uncertainties and moving forward regardless. You put up a good front even when you feel anxious about the outcome. You don’t burden others with your fears and misgivings. You keep them to yourself. You constantly push yourself out of your comfort zone and in the direction of your goals. And no matter how bleak the situation might appear, you keep on keeping on with a smile.
Be Realistic About Your Situation
You are intensely realistic. You refuse to engage in mental games or self-delusion. You encourage others to be realistic and objective about their situations as well. You encourage them to realize and appreciate that there is a price to pay for everything they want. They have weaknesses that they will have to overcome, and they have standards that they will have to meet, if they want to survive and thrive in a competitive market.
Accept Responsibility
You accept complete responsibility for results. You refuse to make excuses or blame others or hold grudges against people who you feel may have wronged you. You say, "If it’s to be, it’s up to me." You repeat over and over the words, "I am responsible. I am responsible. I am responsible."
Take Vigorous Action
Finally, you take action. You know that all mental preparation and character building is merely a prelude to action. It’s not what you say but what you do that counts. The mark of the true leader is that he or she leads the action. He or she is willing to go first. He or she sets the example and acts as the role model. He or she does what he or she expects others to do.
Strive For Excellence
You become a motivational leader by motivating yourself. And you motivate yourself by striving toward excellence, by committing yourself to becoming everything you are capable of becoming. You motivate yourself by throwing your whole heart into doing your job in an excellent fashion. You motivate yourself and others by continually looking for ways to help others to improve their lives and achieve their goals. You become a motivational leader by becoming the kind of person others want to get behind and support in every way.
Your main job is to take complete control of your personal evolution and become a leader in every area of your life. You could ask for nothing more, and you should settle for nothing less.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, see yourself as an outstanding person, parent, coworker and leader in everything you do. Pattern your behavior after the very best people you know. Set high standards and refuse to compromise them.
Second, be clear about your goals and priorities and then take action continually forward. Develop a sense of urgency. Keep moving forward and you’ll automatically keep yourself and others motivated.
Leadership: The Critical Difference
Tags: Leadership Success
Posted by Brian Tracy on Apr 18, 2008
Put Your Career on the Fast Track
There are many things you can do to put your career onto the fast track. You can set clear, specific goals for each area of your life and then make plans to accomplish them. You can plan your work and work your plan.
Ask For Greater Responsibility
You can accept 100% responsibility for everything you are and everything you become. You can refuse to make excuses or to blame others. You can tell your boss that you want greater responsibilities and then when you get them, put your whole heart into doing an excellent job.
Utilize Your Inborn Talents
In the parable of the talents in the New Testament, Jesus says, "Oh good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over small things. I will make you master over large things."
If you too will carry out every assignment to the very best of your ability, you will be given larger and more important things to do and you’ll be paid more as a result.
Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Improvement
The key to long term success is for you to dedicate yourself to continuous improvement. If you become one tenth of one percent more productive each day, that amounts to 1/1000th improvement per working day. Is that possible? Of course it is!
Improve a Little at a Time
If you become one tenth of one percent more productive each day, that amounts to one half of one percent more productive each week. One half of one percent more productive each week amounts to two percent more productive each month and 26% more productive each year.
The cumulative effect if becoming a tiny bit better at your field and more productive amounts to a tremendous increase in your value and your output over time.
How to Double Your Productivity
Twenty-six percent more productive each year, with compounding, amounts to doubling your overall productivity and performance every 2.7 years. If you become 26% more productive each year, with compounding, times 10 years, you will be 1004% more productive over the next decade. That is an increase of ten times over ten years.
The Reason For All Great Successes
This is called the Law of Accumulation, or the Principle of Incremental Improvement. It is the primary reason for all great success stories. By the yard, it’s hard. But inch by inch, anything’s a cinch!
Become A 1000% Person
Make a decision, right now, to be a 1000% person. Commit yourself to continuous personal and professional development. Read, listen to audio programs and take additional courses. This process will completely transform your life.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put these ideas into action immediately.
First, make a plan to become a little bit better every single day. Learn and apply one new idea each day to help you to become more productive and effective at your work. The incremental effect will amaze you.
Second, be patient. Don’t expect overnight changes or instant results. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. Become a little bit better each day and your future will take care of itself.
Tags: Financial Success
Posted by Brian Tracy on Apr 18, 2008
There have never been so many opportunities to start and build a successful business than there are today.
One Million Every Year
Ambitious individuals like you, with dreams and hopes, are starting new businesses today at a faster rate than ever before. Over one million new enterprises are being launched each year, and the rate is accelerating. The opportunities for finding or developing a new business idea are all around you, and with proper preparation, the possibilities for your success are enormous.
No Better Time Than Today
As many as 80 percent of all the products and services in common use today at home, in business and in organizations large and small, will be obsolete in five years. They’ll be replaced by new and better products and services. The rapid development of new technology and the desire of people for new or better or cheaper products or services means that you can start your fortune easier today than at any other time in history.
Avoiding Failure, Assuring Success
However, we know that 80 to 90 percent of new businesses fail in the first three years due to a variety of factors. One of those factors is managerial incompetence. It is an inability to sell the product or an inability to control costs or both. Another major reason for failure is offering the wrong product at the wrong price to the wrong market at the wrong time, or a combination of these. In which case, even the best marketing efforts and cost controls won’t help you.
Determine the Need
The first principle with regard to selecting any new product or service is to determine that it fills a genuine, existing need, that it solves a problem of some kind for the customer, or that it makes the life or work of the customer better in some way. You must be very clear about this.
Sell a Quality Product or Service
The second principle for success with a new product or service is that it must be of good quality at a fair price. And if it is in competition with other similar products or services, it must have what is called a unique selling proposition. It must have some beneficial feature or attraction that makes it different from and superior to its competitors.
Your Area of Uniqueness
We call this its area of uniqueness. And it is central to success in business. No product or service can succeed unless it is somehow unique and superior to any other product or service like it. There is seldom any real opportunity in what is called a "me too" product - one that is just the same as all the others. At the same time, the safest business strategy is to start off with an accepted product that you can improve. In other words, instead of trying to invent a whole new business or industry, start off with something that people are already doing, people are already buying and using, and find some way to improve it.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:
First, determine exactly what is different and special about your product or service that will cause people to buy it in competition with similar products or services. Build your entire sales and marketing around this unique selling proposition.
Second, investigate before you invest. Be prepared to look at a variety of different business opportunities until you find one that really excites you before you make a decision to get started.
21 Great Ways to Start and Build Your Own Successful Business
Tags: Business Success
Posted by Brian Tracy on Apr 8, 2008
Little Things Mean A Lot
One of the greatest success principles of all is called the Law of Accumulation. This law says that everything great and worthwhile in human life is an accumulation of hundreds and sometimes thousands of tiny efforts and sacrifices that nobody ever sees or appreciates. It says that everything accumulates over time. That you have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile. It’s like a snowball. A snowball starts very small, but it grows as it adds millions and millions of tiny snowflakes and continues to grow as it gathers momentum.
Learn What You Need To Learn
There are three areas where the law of accumulation is important. The first is in the area of knowledge. Your body of knowledge is a result of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small pieces of information.
Any person with a large knowledge base has spent thousands of hours building that knowledge base one piece at a time. And what you see when you meet the individual is an expert in his or her field, with that high level of knowledge that makes him very valuable in the marketplace.
Save Your Money
The second area where the Law of accumulation works is with regard to money. Every large fortune is an accumulation of hundreds and thousands of small amounts of money, and the place to start is to take any amount of money that you can right now and begin to save it. When you begin to save money, it sets up a force field of energy and it triggers the law of attraction. As a result you begin to attract to you even more bits of money to add to your savings.
Do you want to know the laws of success?
There are laws that explain how people act in any given situation. Laws that explain why some people triumph while others fail. These laws can predict the outcome in the game of life. If you learn these laws, and apply them — YOU will become a winner.
Attract Riches Into Your Life
And I’ve spoken to many, many successful people and they’ve told me the same story. That as soon as you start to put savings aside, it starts to attract into your life and into your work all the money that you need to achieve your goals. The reason why most people retire poor is they never put the initial savings aside to start with.
Get The Experience You Need
The third area where the law of accumulation applies is in the area of experience. You’ll find that successful people in any field are those who have far more experience in that field than the average. And there is nothing that replaces experience. Whether it’s in business or entrepreneurship or management or parenting or selling or anything else. Many people do not take the risks that are necessary to move out of their comfort zone because they’re afraid it won’t work out.
Everything Counts
But the fact is that until you move out of the comfort zone and get the experience from making the mistakes, it’s not possible for you to grow and become capable of earning the kind of money that you desire. Now here’s the key to the law of accumulation. It says that everything counts. Everything that you do counts. The biggest mistake that people make is they think that only what they want to count, counts. That when you read a book, when you listen to an audio program, when you go to a course, when you go to bed early and you get up early and you work, it all counts. And it’s all going on the plus side of your ledger.
Use Your Time Well
But when you watch television, waste time, hang out, fool around and so on, all of that counts, as well, and it’s going on the negative side. A person who has a great life, by the law of accumulation, is a person who’s accumulated far more credits on the credit side than debits on the debit side. And here’s an important point. If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals. Nothing is neutral. Everything that you’re doing is either moving you toward the things that you want to accomplish in life, the person you want to be, the wealth you want to accumulate, or it’s moving you away. Everything counts. The law of accumulation says that everything counts.
Action Exercises
First, begin today to build your knowledge base in the subject that can be most helpful to you in achieving financial independence. Whether it takes a week, a month or a year to become thoroughly knowledgeable, it doesn’t matter. Just get started today.
Second, get as much experience as you can in your chosen field. Start a little earlier, work a little harder and stay a little later. Take risks and try every different way you can think of to achieve your goal. This experience is invaluable and it accumulates over time.
The Universal Laws of Success and Achievement
Tags: Business Success
Posted by Brian Tracy on Apr 7, 2008
How You Can Be More Effective in Giving Feedback to Your Staff
An important part of business communication is giving feedback, correction and discipline to your staff. One of the jobs of the manager is to be a teacher, and in some cases a disciplinarian. This means that, in order to do your job properly, and in order to develop your staff to make their highest potential contribution to the organization, you must give them regular feedback on what they are doing right and where they can improve.
Constructive Criticism
Most people are very tense about giving discipline or what is often called, "constructive criticism." However you can make it a low stress occasion by focusing on the behavior and the performance rather than on the person. This requires that you report what you see, rather than what you feel, or your interpretation of events.
Focus on the Behavior
For example, a person comes back from a luncheon two hours late. Instead of getting angry with the person, you could say, "I see that you took more than two hours for lunch today. This causes some disruption in the office because of the work that doesn’t get done. Is there a reason for this long lunch?"
In other words, what you are doing is reporting on the individual’s behavior and leaving the door open for a variety of interpretations or explanations. The individual may have had a car accident or a medical appointment, or a family emergency.
Thinking About the Future
One of the best ways to deal with poor performance is to focus on the future over the past. Instead of becoming angry over what has already happened, or not happened, you should explain clearly to the individual what you want to see done differently. Get an agreement from the individual that the job will be done differently in the future. Agree to meet on a regular basis to review progress.
Build Self-Esteem
Always end a disciplinary interview with an expression of faith and confidence in the individual. Always do everything possible to preserve the individual’s self-esteem and self-image. End the conversation with a positive statement that causes the person to go back to work feeling better about himself or herself.
Aim For Improved Performance
Remember, the only purpose of a session of constructive criticism is to improve performance. If you lose sight of that and instead you attack or criticize the other person, his or her performance will not improve. In fact, if you criticize a person too often, the individual will stop doing that job altogether. Their performance will deteriorate and they will become less and less willing to contribute to the goals of the company.
Action Exercises
First, always criticize or correct a person in private. When someone has made a mistake or done a poor job, arrange to see them alone, explain your concerns and ask for their explanation - before you say anything.
Second, no matter what has happened, always focus on the future over the past. Focus on what can be done now rather than what has already happened. Focus on what the person should do next time rather than the mistake that has already been made.
Leadership for Results Package
Tags: Leadership Success
Posted by Brian Tracy on Apr 4, 2008
Entrepreneurship is the art of finding profitable solutions to problems.
Entrepreneurship is the art of finding profitable solutions to problems. Every successful entrepreneur, every successful businessperson has been a person who has been able to identify a problem and come up with a solution to it before somebody else did. Here are the five rules for entrepreneurship.
Find A Need And Fill It
First, find a need and fill it. Ross Perot, when he was working for IBM, saw that his customers who were buying IBM computers, needed help in processing their data. He went to IBM with this idea and they said they weren’t interested, so he started his own business. He eventually sold it out for $2.8 billion dollars. He found a need and he filled it.
Find A Problem And Solve It
The second rule is to find a problem and solve it. A secretary working for a small company began mixing flour with nail varnish in order to white out the mistakes she was making in her typing. Pretty soon, her friends in the same office asked if she could make some for them. So she began mixing it on her kitchen table. Then, people in other offices started asking for it, and she eventually quit her business and worked full time creating what is today called Liquid Paper. A few years ago, she sold her company to Gillette Corporation for 47 million dollars.
Customers for Life
The highest paid salespeople and the most profitable companies have the best reputation for customer service. You learn a series of low-cost, no-cost ways to get customers to buy from you, buy again, and tell their friends.
Look for Solutions
Find a problem and solve it. Find a problem that everybody’s got and see if you can’t come up with a solution for it. Find a way to supply a product or a service better, cheaper, faster or easier. Clemmons Wilson saw that there was a need for hotels that could accommodate families that were traveling, and he started Holiday Inns. And Holiday Inns has now become one of the most successful hotel chains in the world.
Focus On Your Customer
Here’s the key to success in business. Become obsessed with your customer. Fixated on your customer. Think of the customer. Think of what the customer wants, what the customer needs. What the customer will pay for, what the customer’s problems are. Thomas J. Watson, Senior, the founder of IBM, taught his people and built his company on this principle. See yourself as working for the customer. Once you’ve come up with a product or an idea, then start to invest your time, talent and energy instead of your money, to get started.
The Source of Most Great Fortunes
Remember this, most great fortunes in America were started with an idea and with personal efforts. Most great fortunes were started with the sale of personal services. This is called sweat equity. In other words, instead of cash equity, put in sweat equity. Put in the sweat of your brow to begin your business. You can learn valuable lessons operating on a small scale.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:
First, find a need and fill it. Look around you and search for needs that people have for products or services that are not being met. One small idea is enough to start you on the way to business success.
Second, find a problem and solve it. Look around you for problems that you or other people have that are not yet being solved. Look for solutions that nobody has thought of and give them a try. One good solution could change the whole direction of your life.
Customers For Life
Tags: Business Success
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