How do you know you are learning?

There are more than enough writings around the world that discuss the importance of learning.

Learning is often the key to winning in today’s world. Our competitive edge is for us to learn faster and better than our competition.

You also need to learn to keep up with times. Change is the only constant and what use to be the way of doing things in your job will no longer be applicable tomorrow. You need to learn new skills and technologies.

Or you may need to learn to embark on an alternative career. Unlike the good old days, things are faster and business cycles are getting shorter. In the event that your industry or sector is not growing, you will have to change, before someone decides that you need to change.

The Singapore government is pouring millions (or maybe more?) to promote this concept call the “life long learning”. As Confucius said “learn as long as you live”.

Of course, the catch is: how do you know you are learning?

This is what I normally teach participants in my sales training.

“You know you are learning when you can do something that you previously can’t.”

As simple as it may sound, it has deeper implications.

1) It puts the focus on “doing”. In other word, while new knowledge is meaningful and important, it is not enough. You must translate this knowledge into practice.

As you already know, knowing and doing are entirely different. Most of us know that we need to floss our teeth everyday. In reality, sometimes even dentist don’t do it everyday.

It takes discipline – a tremendous amount of it.

What if you pick up some new knowledge, but couldn’t make the transition into practice?

Well, perhaps you have not fully internalize the knowledge. In this case, repetition is crucial. That is also why I always encourage my participants to make time to come back for refresher course.

2) This definition of learning focus on result. It isn’t just doing. It means achieving certain success that you have not done before.

Thus, like what we teach our participants, learning a closing technique and able to do it in the classroom setting is not sufficient. You must be able to get the desire result from a real prospect through the use of this technique.

So let me ask you again: Are you learning everyday?

teck beng
www.coachme2sell.com

The Difference that make a Difference

Other than conducting sales training, one of those things I love to do is platform selling, or more commonly know as stage selling.

As at today, I have done almost 200 sessions in many cities in South East Asia for many different products and programs.

This is one form of speaking which most professional speakers find it extremely pressurizing. This is because, within a short span of 2 to 3 hours, you have to teach, entertain and promote, all at the same time. You are doing this to a audience, which means you sell to many simultaneously and there is no chance to build individual rapport.

Selling to a large group of totally unrelated people also means that you must have the ability to build trust quickly and command the respect of the crowd.

However, the secret to successful platform selling - an important lesson I learnt after doing so many sessions - is really ............ sincerity.

I could still vividly recall my 1st preview years ago. I was nervous. I fumbled; I tripped over my own words. However, the audience received my message. They bought what I was selling.

Great learning lesson.

Until today, I still tell my students:

Never forget how you closed that 1st sale. Remember how you were afraid. Remember how you leave your house worrying about your presentation.

It's ok.

It was your heart that closes the sale, not your skills.

teck beng

I am getting lazier these days, how about you?

I have not been writing very much for the past few days. Getting really lazy.

Like what one of my mentor said: Anything that is easy to do is also easy not to do.

Unfortunately for many self-employed – which include many sales professionals - discipline is one issue that is stopping them from getting what they want in life.

While training is important, if the participant do not have the discipline to follow through what was taught in class, don’t expect to see result.

My advice to all participants who comes to my sales training is this: Discipline is not just about doing the necessary or right stuff, it’s about knowing what you want. If you stay focus with the end in mind, it is easier (I say easier, not easy) to commit to the little things everyday that creates a huge difference later.



Exercising 3 times a week will give you a healthier body. Likewise, communicating with your clients regularly will bring you more repeat businesses and referrals.

I advocate a number of mechanisms to help to enforce this, including keeping in touch with my participants after the training.

teck beng
www.coachme2sell.com

Can you make yourself fall in Love with Selling?

A Singaporean who came into my sales training recently asked this questions: I don’t really like selling, is there anyway to make me like selling? I am asking this because I know selling is the number 1 skill needed to start any business.

“This is a difficult question”, I told him. It’s like telling me “I don’t love her, can you make me love her?”

There are many possibilities why someone do not like selling. I shall discuss 3.


(1) You are not getting the result you desire or deserve.

Even within this reason, there are many explanations …

The most common is you do not have the skills to succeed in this profession. While motivation and passion are important (assuming you already have them), you need the necessary skill sets before you can get into action.

On the other hand, you may have some of these skills, but lack practice.

Other possibilities includes:
- you do not have a system for success. I discussed this on my posting on 26 Feb 2007.
- you have everything you need, but lacks the discipline to take consistent action,

I will cover these 2 points in the free eCourse on www.AsiaSalesAcadmey.com which I plan to launch within the next 30 days. In the mean time, leave me a note if you need anything.


(2) You are NOT completely sold yourself.

I want to share an analogy that came from my mentor, Tom “Big Al” Schreiter in his book “Super Prospecting” …

If you are like most people, you love to eat.

What if on a Sat night you visited a fine dining restaurant for a buffet dinner. You discovered there are over 200 different dishes and 50 different types of desserts. What’s more interesting was you paid only $9.90, including tax and service charge, and your partner get to dine for free.

On Monday morning, when you get back to the office what you be telling your colleagues? The $9.90 for 2 eat-all-you-want buffer dinner of course!

Compare that to many people in the selling profession.

We procrastinate picking up the phone. We are afraid when we meet our customers. We are worried about telling our relatives what we do for a living? We don’t wish to tell them we are in the profession of selling because we don’t want them to think we want to make money out of them.

Reluctance in selling comes from not being completely sold yourself. If you are not excited and convinced about your product, than you might be selling a wrong product. Look for something else to sell.


(3) You do not understand the real meaning of selling.

Why would anyone buy from you in the first place?

Because you (or your product or service) help them to save money, time or effort. At least they think or perceive so. Otherwise, they would not part with their hard-earn money to exchange for what you are selling.

In other word, when you sell, you are helping your clients. You are providing the solution to their current problem. While many of us are not entirely comfortable about making money from sales, I can confidently say that everyone that I have met till today is willing to help and make a contribution to another person life.

Selling is helping people. It is understanding and BELIEVING this principle that often differentiate great sales from average sales people.



Having said all these, no one can make you love something that you have no feelings over. It’s a chemistry that no one can explain.

teck beng
www.coachme2sell.com

Do you love Cactus?

I love cactus, and I think everyone in business and in the selling professional must keep cactus at home.

Cacti are natural survivals. They can go on for days and weeks and months without water. That’s why they flourish so well in places like desert, where most other living things find it hard to survive.

Cacti have roots that reach further and deeper into the ground, compare to many other plants. Similarly, selling require you to cast a wider net, to really reach out before you have a good catch.

Cacti are the best savers – they save and conserve precious water carefully for “non raining” days. They are always prepared when crisis strike.

Cacti protect themselves well. Thorns help to block part of the sunlight while keeping hostile animals away. A thin layer of wax on the body further reduce the lost of water. Although the environment is cruel, cacti evolve and triumph! Cacti are strong and persistent!

Cacti provide the food and protection to many species in the deserts, including owls, woodpeckers and human. They give back to nature what god has bestowed on them. Likewise, if you want to be successful, give generously to the less fortunate.



I was catching up with a friend yesterday, and he casually mentioned that the selling professional is very brutal – most sales professionals started with little or no basic salary.

I agreed. However, I will like the add: in this profession, the fittest not only survive, but flourish, if they are willing to learn to be cautus.

I train my students to become cacti. Having said that, as part of the follow up mentoring I plan for them, I encourage them to keep cacti at home so that they are reminded of the lessons they learnt.

teck beng
www.coachme2sell.com

Are you Afraid of Failure?

Just had a very fruitful weekend with a group of students in Malaysia. Our objective was to improve the business acumen of these students, so as to prepare them for adulthood.

Of course, one of the sessions was about selling. Students are put into a simulated market place, where some will become buyers and others become sellers.

What amazed me was that there was no fear of rejection in almost all the sellers. They literally went from prospect to prospect to attempt to sell. Lost of “face”, ego and failure were never in their dictionaries.

This reminded me of another important lesson I learnt from martial art – emptiness of mind.

An infant crawling on the ground if missed by a speeding car by a nose will feel nothing but continue crawling normally. A grown up on the other hand will be frozen.

In martial art, if you execute a punch with the fear of being hit by your opponent, you can never do it well.

Similarly, if you sell with the fear of getting a rejection, you will probably not be able to close the sale. Chances are your energy is low and your prospect will “feel” it.

Thus, what applies in martial art also applies in selling.

Follow what the famous Aikido saying: “Prepare for everything but expect nothing”!

teck beng
www.coachme2sell.com

Can't You See my Point?

I was training a group of resellers for a company over the last weekend. During one of the sessions, I instructed everyone to stand up and give a 5-mins presentation of their product to the rest of the class. After that, they took a vote to decide who is the most “convincing and persuasive” presenter.

After the voting was over and the result was announced, a few of the participants shared with me how surprise they were with the outcome. This is because their peers did not support who they thought was the best. In other word, everyone seems to have a different idea of what was the “best”.

Sometimes, I think this is what makes life interesting and confusing.

For example, we may believe that we have presented well, but our prospect may not think so. We may think that we really care for our clients, but our clients cannot “feel” our love. We may be providing the best customer service, but is your best good enough for your customers?

Remember, what your customers, clients and prospects perceive is always the truth. Perception is reality.

It is just not enough that we provide value for our clients. We must also help our clients see that value that we are giving.

How?

Here are a few simple ways that I teach my students in my advanced selling classes:

1) Ensure your entire team understands your unique value proposition for your clients, not just you alone.
2) Ensure this is communicated in all channels of communication, including advertisement, emails, customers’ service officers, front desk receptionist.
3) Keep your communications channels open. Allow feedback to flow back to you in many ways.

The more interactions and contacts you have with your clients, The more opportunities you have to communicate what distinct value you possess.

Till we meet, all the best

teck beng
www.coachme2sell.com