15 Sales Tips by Bob Weinstein!

FROM THE PROFESSIONAL DYNAMIC:

OK, you've made the decision to take a sales job at your company. For several years, you've worked at the technical end of the business. Now you're ready to embark upon a new but compatible career path. How do you know you're ready?

Most important, you must have the desire to interact with others, enjoy challenge and be comfortable in handling objections, says Lawrence Alter, president of the Arthur Group, a career consulting firm in Minneapolis, Minn. "You'll be interacting with people at all levels -- the beer-drinking crowd and those that drink champagne."

Typically, introverts find it difficult changing their personalities and may not be suited for sales, although they may be very good at technical support skills, according to Alter. But, "if you enjoy participating in or organizing peer group meetings, have led project management groups, assisted the sales staff in technical sales presentations, been involved with either internal or external customer support, it should be easy to parlay those skills into a sales career," he says.

Below, Alter lists 15 tips that can help any techie transition into sales:

1. Learn to be comfortable interacting with others and try to develop a comfort level in talking with people you have never met. Joining a couple of social groups such as Toastmasters International that assist all types of professionals in public/group speaking can help.

2. Consider taking a sales course at a nearby college, entrepreneurial center, or chamber of commerce.

3. Develop a strong level of self-confidence in your ability to speak effectively and sincerely about your product or service. Believe that if you convince prospects to become your customers they will be better off because of what you sold them.

4. Seek mentors who have been successful in sales or sales management. Use them to bounce ideas off or and share your enthusiasm for being in sales. In the classic sales manual Think and Grow Rich,Napoleon Hill advocates the use of a mastermind group. This type of support can be wonderful in an advisory capacity. Think and Grow Rich is one of the most successful motivational business books ever written.

5. Remember: Everyone is a salesperson to some extent and nothing happens in any company -- or any relationship -- until something is sold. If you are married, you "sold" your wife on marrying you. Competent teachers are salespeople too. They're selling ideas and concepts to motivate students.

6. Be able to convince your boss (or a senior sales manager in your company) that you are confident in your ability to sell and motivate others.

7. Start by asking your manager if you can assist in a "sales support" role so you can observe how a sales professional handles preparations and objections.

8. Learn to become a good listener -- if you are not already -- and remember that successful sales professionals cannot sell anything if they don't listen to and understand the needs of their buyers.

9. Consider the possibility that you may be more qualified than you realize. Technical managers, for example, have sales skills because they are responsible for motivating others, getting projects approved, and selling management on larger budgets or additional tools, to name a few.

10. Find out who your competitors are and examine the merits and pitfalls of their products. You will be selling against them.

11. Know your products and their advantages over those of your competitors (i.e., price, ability to ship, quality, or value-added concepts your company offers).

12. Learn how to use the sales professional's most valuable tool -- the phone. Be comfortable and confident in what you are saying. Don't be disappointed by rejection. Have notes in front of you so that you are never thrown off track by unexpected questions -- that way you can always recover and return to your agenda. An excellent tool for developing a sound sales presence is Phone Power: How to Get Whatever You Want on the Telephone (Sound Ideas), by George R. Walther.

13. Be prepared to handle rejection. It's hard to take in the beginning. Once you gain confidence though, it ought to be a motivator.

14. Learn how to deal with objections to setting appointments or resistance to buying your products, and learn how to ask for an order (close the sale). If there are no objections, there will be no sale. When your prospects ask questions they are asking you to tell them why they should buy.

15. Know that a sale is always being made. Either you sell your prospect on the advantages of buying and a sale is made or your prospect sells you on the reasons for not buying and you lose the deal. Even a commitment for another meeting or follow-up action is a sales commitment which can lead to a sale.

To your professional success!!!

Leo Stroobants

The 8 Dynamics of Life

www.leostroobants.com

De 7 kenmerken van een uitstekend publiek spreker!

Professional Dynamic;

Wie succesvol wil communiceren met begrijpen hoe anderen hem zien en horen en hoe ze reageren op wat wordt gezegd. Het gaat ‘m niet zozeer om wat, maar eerder om hoe je het zegt, of het nu om een één-op-ééngesprek, een telefoongesprek of een presentatie gaat. Sprekers kunnen efficiënt leren communiceren ongeacht waar ze zijn. Wie goed via de telefoon of een videoconferentie wil communiceren zal zich toch eerst moeten perfectioneren tijdens gewone één-op-ééngesprekken.

7 tips om beter en efficiënter te communiceren met anderen:

Het stemgeluid is de sleutel van een presentatie. Uit onderzoek blijkt dat het volume van de stem de respons van de luisteraars meer beïnvloedt dan de woorden die ze spreken. Wanneer je tegen drie mensen praat moet je stemvolume anders zijn  dan wanneer je 15 mensen toespreekt.

Pauseer vaak en spreek langzaam. Een veel voorkomende fout is te veel praten. Meer dan wat de luisteraar wil en moet horen. Indien managers hun boodschap duidelijk willen laten overkomen moeten ze traag spreken en bewust pauses in hun betoog inlassen.

Maak contact. Kijk en luister goed naar je spreekpartner om te zien of die je punt vat. Oogcontact vergroot het vertrouwen en geeft je de kans met je spreekpartner te connecteren. Wanneer er geen oprecht contact bestaat, zal de luisteraar snel zijn interesse verliezen, de boodschap in vraag stellen en twijfels over de spreker formuleren.

Etaleer zelfvertrouwen. Binnen de zeven seconden nadat iemand de kamer betreedt hebben de aanwezigen zich reeds een idee gevormd over het zelfvertrouwen van de persoon in kwestie. Hoe je je voordoet, is wie je bent. Rechtop lopen is dus belangrijk.

Wees spaarzaam met het gebruik van technologie als hulpmiddel om je boodschap te brengen en gebruik technologische snufjes enkel als ze je betoog sterker maakt. Een goed één-op-ééngesprek blijft de sterkste communicatiemethode.

Gebruik gebaren om een positieve visuele indruk te creëren. Wanneer je gebaren overeenstemmen met je betoog, verstreken ze wat je zegt en wordt de boodschap makkelijker verstaanbaar. Getrainde sprekers gebruiken gebaren om meer nadruk op hun woorden te leggen. Ze vermijden om met pennen, hun vingers of ringen te spelen terwijl ze praten.

Verhoog je bewustzijn. De meeste mensen hebben er geen idee van wat anderen zien en horen wanneer ze met iemand praten. Aandachtig de luisteraar observeren is de boodschap. Zijn reacties en antwoorden goed analyseren.

To your professional success!

Leo Stroobants

The 8 Dynamics of Life (r)

www.leostroobants.com

Belgian real estate will pick up in 2010!

The Belgian real estate market is expected to undergo a resurgence in the second half of 2010.

The prices are expected to start rising again and the trend should continue further into 2011. This is the prognosis of Trevi Corporate Real Estate Group. 

Trevi Corporate Real Estate Group makes predictions every year based on their 'Trevi-index'. The index rose slightly from the end of September to the end of the year, from 108.19 to 108.39 points. According to the real estate group prices in the sector dropped in 2009 by an average of 5 to 10%, but in the second half of the year prices started to stabilise.

The real estate group expects higher prices in the second half of 2010, making it more difficult for lower income families to buy their own home.

According to the group, the real estate market did not collapse in Belgium in 2009 thanks to a Belgians propensity to put money aside. This meant that Belgians, even in an economic downturn, were able to show: "maturity as regards residential real estate", according to Trevi Real Estate. "There was never talk of a large buffer stock or of general panic in the market," says the real estate group.

flandersnews.be/Expatica

Keeping you posted,

To your success!

Leo Stroobants

www.leostroobants.com

When the majority of people pulled back in fear david tepper invested and made 7 billion this year!

Fund Boss Made $7 Billion in the Panic!

 

Check out this article!

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/108451/fund-boss-made-7-billion-in-the-panic

Remember that real leaders today face the music all the time, even when they do not like the tune.

To your wealth!

Leo Stroobants

Wealth Acceleration Coach

www.leostroobants.com

Choose your Role Models well; Arnold Swarzenegger Part III

Role models are people you can look up to for ideas, encouragement and support. They are the people that have values that you aspire to have and appreciate.

Aristotle's idea of virtue ethics relies substantially on the effects role models have on people. Aristotle believes that we learn to be moral (virtuous) by modeling the behavior of moral people. Through continual modeling we become virtuous out of habit. Of course, people can learn both good and bad habits depending on the role models they have. Aristotle believed that it was the moral duty of every citizen to act as a good role model. This was especially true for people who were most likely to be in the public eye, since these people had so many eyes on them. Who are the role models in contemporary society? When asked, many celebrities (sports figures, actors, musicians) state that they don't want to be role models. Aristotle would argue that this is not a choice a person can make. Since these people are so prominent in our society they are role models and should take this responsibility seriously.

Today let's examine our role model Arnold Swarzenegger in Part III;




Make rapid relentless progress!
Arnold grew, and grew, and grew! Within 2 or 3 years he was massive. He was achieving his goal. He had to overcome lots of resistance and challenges both inwardly and outwardly, but as he said: "I wanted that body and I didn't care what I had to go through to get it."
At 18, he was drafted into the army to do his National Service. Fittingly, he joined the tank corp!The Junior Mr Europe bodybuilding competition was soon to be held in Germany and Arnold was determined to compete despite being denied leave of absence by his C.O. He decided he must compete and he went AWOL! Sometimes in the pursuit of your goals, you must risk all.
Fortunately, Arnold's massive biceps won him 1st Prize and he returned to his barracks with trophy in hand. A week in solitary confinement was his punishment, but as word spread of his accomplishment, he was soon being feted as an example of Austrian heroism by his commanding officers.
He soon went on to win Mr Universe in London. From there his dream was taking him to America.

Reality check, please!
Arnold is often described as a very reality-focussed individual. He is not particularly concerned with "contemplating his navel"! He is not someone who wrestles with anxiety or inner "issues"!
Being honest is one of the most valuable qualities anyone can have. On arrival in America, Arnold was immediately in competition with the world's top bodybuilders. He came 2nd - a terrible blow to his image of himself as the best. But he took it on the chin and coolly assessed his weaknesses and devised a plan to overcome them.

"I was always honest about my weak points, this helped me grow. I think it's the key to success in everything: be honest; know where you are weak: admit it."

In the pursuit of your goals, you must be prepared to make course adjustments. This requires honesty and the ability to see things as they are, not as you wish them to be. When you see something as it is, you are in a more powerful position to change it.

"When I see that I have certain backward attitudes, I reason them out and work to make my outlook more realistic."

Being outwardly-focussed also enables you to be more aware of opportunity. Arnold is a legendary prankster, who is quick to take advantage of unwitting minds. He uses this "what's-really-going-on-radar" to psychologically outmanouvre his competitors, and ensure that he achieves his goal.
This sharp ability to observe is a powerful tool for critical thinking and assessing others. Arnold would look closely at what successful people do and at what unsuccessful people do. This enabled him to discern the behavior patterns to avoid and the behaviors to focus on. This enabled him to forge ahead where others languished on a plateau (or in a rut).

"Most of the people I observed couldn't make astonishing advances because they never had faith in themselves. They had a hazy picture of what they wanted to look like someday, but they doubted they could realize it. Ultimately they didn't put out the kind of effort I did because they didn't feel they had a chance to make it. And of course, starting with that premise, they didn't."

The Template of Success!
Bodybuilding is a terrific metaphor for succeeding in life. The Greeks championed the idea of a healthy mind in a healthy body and were the first to establish set exercise routines to develop the physique. By exercising with progressively heavier weights, getting enough rest and eating well, you can build the size and strength of your muscles.
Arnold took the process of success that he got from bodybuilding and applied it to other areas in his life. In bodybuilding, there are big goals such as winning a major competition like the Mr Olympia; there are medium-term goals like reaching an ideal weight of 235 lbs with 6% body fat ratio; and there are hundreds of short-term mini-goals like turning up at the gym (!), doing 12 reps of squats with 200lbs or cutting cakes from your diet. There is a deliberate process of discipline in achieving these goals.
When you have any kind of success in your life, lift the template of that success up and apply it to other areas of your life in which you wish to succeed. If you have any experience of success, you can take that experience and replicate it elsewhere. And everyone has experienced success in their lives, even if you have to go back as far as learning to walk or talk or read.

"In two or three years, I had actually been able to change my body entirely. That told me something. If I had been able to change my body that much, I could also, through the same discipline and determination, change anything else I wanted. I could change my habits, my whole outlook on life."

In learning about business, Arnold applied the bodybuilding-template to his studies. He was a millionaire long before he made his name in Hollywood. He applied the bodybuilding template to his acting career and gradually built up the size of the roles he was offered and the "clout" he wielded amongst the studios.

Stay hungry!
Arnold is a genius... As Pele is to soccer, Bruce Lee to kung fu, Elvis Presley to Rock & Roll, Arnold Schwarzenegger is to bodybuilding. While todays bodybuilders are even more massive and muscularly defined, none can yet surpass Arnold as the archetypal muscle man. He has set and achieved his goals with the unerring, unstoppable force and dedication that he exemplified playing the robot from the future, The Terminator.

Arnold lives life in the large lane! 
"The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer," he says.
His motivating motto is "Stay Hungry!" That means don't get too comfortable. Success can deaden the senses and make you superstitious and think you have to do the same things over and over. Not so! You are alive and creative, and there are always new ideas and new levels of success to be gained.
You are a muscular minded genius! Put your thinking muscle to good use and trail blaze a path of glory!

Follow the footsteps of great individuals, it's that simple!

To your success! 
Leo Stroobants
Wealth Acceleration Coach
www.leostroobants.com

Choose your Role Models well; Arnold Swarzenegger Part II

True role models are those who possess the qualities that we would like to have and those who have affected us in a way that makes us want to be better people. To advocate for ourselves and our goals and take leadership on the issues that we believe in. We often don't recognize our true role models until we have noticed our own personal growth and progress . . .

 

Here we go with Part II of Arnold Scharzenegger;

Fine-tune your blueprint!
Attack your goal from every angle. The clearer you can visualize the goal in your mind, the quicker you will achieve it. See it as though it is already real. Imagine that you have achieved it. What would you see? What would you hear? How would you be feeling? Use all your senses to make it as real and as exciting as possible. If you don't feel deliriously happy contemplating this goal, then maybe you should ask yourself why you are doing it, really? Either find more compelling reasons why you want to do this, or change the goal.

"I had this fixed idea of growing a body like Reg Park's. The model was there in my mind; I only had to grow enough to fill it. My dreams went beyond a spectacular body. Once I had that, I knew what it would do for me. I'd get into the movies. I'd create an empire."

Keep at your goal visualization. Play with it every day like a dog with a bone; keep chewing that sucker until you really get the taste of it. Keep sharpening the details, getting it into crystal focus. Adjust it until it sounds just right. Work it until it feels spot-on! The more real it seems inwardly, the more real it will become outwardly (unless, of course, you are freaking nuts!). Like a cartographer: you are making a map, the details have to be there. Like an architect designing a house, you need to put in everything required to build that dream home.

Stay positive!
Arnold discovered the power of the mind over the body. He noticed how emotional distractions and worry weakened him. Thinking about problems and worries during his training sessions robbed him of the strength he needed to workout.
He also knew what a detrimental affect others can have on your goals, often trying to squash them. Negative people often resist positive people, and they feel uncomfortable around them until either they pull the positive person down to their level or they catch the positivity and change themselves.

"I remember certain people trying to put negative thoughts into my mind, trying to persuade me to slow down. But I had found the thing to which I wanted to devote my total energies and there was no stopping me."

Make sure you develop that kind of thick-skinned positivity! Family members can often be the greatest threat to our dreams. Without alienating them, you can be persistent in your purpose and goal. It is often advisable to keep goals secret, especially in the early stages. Get around those who can help you achieve your goal. Hang out with your mentors. Success breeds success.
Arnold has always known and understood that principle. He always worked with the best people he could find or contact, saying: "Positive thinking can be contagious. Being surrounded by winners helps you develop into a winner."

Challenge your limits
Usually you do about 3-5 sets of an exercise for a particular body part. However the body can become used to this routine and fail to grow as dramatically as you require. Arnold resorted to shock tactics to bomb his muscles and force them to grow.
Each week, he would choose an exercise, and focus an entire workout on that exercise alone. Instead of 5 sets, he might do 55 sets or just keep going until he couldn't do another thing. Frequently, he would train with a like-minded partner and have little competitions to motivate himself to do better. They would challenge each other to do more reps with heavier and heavier weights.
Apply this shock principle to your own goals. Let's say your goal is to become a public speaker on the seminar circuit. But you aren't very good at speaking. Maybe you have given 1 or 2 talks in the last few months.
If you want to get good at talking you are going to have to up the ante. Schedule a talk a day for a month, or three talks a day for a week. Grab your soapbox and go and stand in the city park if you have to. Get out there and talk! The harder it is and the more you do, the quicker you will become comfortable and an accomplished speaker.
Anthony Robbins did this when he started his speaking career; he would be giving talks in the morning to the Business Bureau, talk in the afternoon to the Womens' Circle and then be giving a talk in the evening elsewhere -- and he did that week after week, month after month. The end result being he is one of the most fluent, entertaining, informative and successful speakers in the world.

Keep track of this Blog, PartIII will reveil even more secrets about this fenomenal personality.
Always keep in mind that your life is heading in the direction that you are looking at.
What are you looking at today?
If you don't know, look around in your life today and see what it is that you attracted.
Beware what you are focusing on!
Enjoy your weekend!


Leo Stroobants 
Wealth Acceleration Coach
www.leostroobants.com

Choose your Role Models well; Arnold Swarzenegger Part I

Role models can be a powerful force for learning and realizing your potential. They’re not only important for your career, but for achieving fulfillment in everything you do. You ought to have role models in every stage and dynamic of your life. (Check out the 8 Dynamics of Life (r) -Leo Stroobants-)

Researchers have concluded that children who have good role models learn to be motivated self-learners. Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” By introducing children to role models for all aspects of their lives, you are nurturing their imagination.

“Role models are important throughout every stage of your life,” says Mick Quinn, former PM, IT developer, headhunter and most recently author of Power and Grace, the Wisdom of Awakening. “If you’re lucky, there are role models from infancy on.”

PART I; Arnold Swarzenegger 


The Terminator Goal-Setting Strategy
Here's a man, a goliath of a man, who started life in some Austrian backwater and dreamed massive dreams. He was a million miles from the Hollywood he would one day claim as his own. But, as a mere 15 year old, he announced his dream and he went on to achieve it.

"I want to be the best built man in the world. Then I want to go to America and be in movies. I want
to be an actor."

The phenomenal laser-focused way he powered forward to achieve goal after goal is revealed here. Use the goal setting secrets of this unstoppable "muscle bound monster", and you too can make mighty strides forward.


Click with your passion!
We are traveling back in time, to a sleepy Alpine village called Graz. Here Arnold Schwarzenegger sculpted his future as unerringly as he went about sculpting his body. 
He's 15 years old and his soccer team are visiting a gym. Arnold looks around at the powerful muscular bodies of the men working out there and something clicks deep inside him. He suddenly realizes at a deep inner level that this is what he wants to do. He wants to feel strong and powerful like a mighty warrior or a fearsome beast. His mind lights up with a passion to do this.

"I knew I was going to be a bodybuilder.
It wasn't simply that either. I would be the best bodybuilder in the world, the greatest,
the best-built man."

Have you clicked with what you want to do and achieve?


Dream BIG!
Is your dream big enough to excite you and stir you to action? Have you put your ego into it? Can you go a little wild and really stretch the bounds of what you think is possible for you? You have to think BIG, like Arnold, who literally "dreamed about being gigantic".
Soak up your subject!
Arnold began to work-out with unwavering determination and enthusiasm. He asked questions of the older bodybuilders in the gym. He subscribed to magazines. He found out more and more about bodybuilding and applied it to his training. He made rapid progress because he worked so hard.

"I wanted more, I demanded
more of myself."

Whatever your goal is, are you building up your knowledge base? Are you letting your obsession with it grow and grow so that you seek out and continuously find new references and knowledge that relate to and support the achievement of your goal? Are you giving it your all? When you focus on something and want it, your RAS (random activating system) in your mind becomes hyper sensitive to anything and everything that relates to your interest.
s

Find someone you can emulate!
Working out with weights is hard and sometimes relentless as you have to keep doing it day after day, week after week. You need inspiration to keep you going when it gets tough. Arnold had his methods.

"I kept my batteries charged with the adventure movies of Steve Reeves, Mark Forrest, Brad Harris, Gordon Mitchell and Reg Park."

Seeing these heroic figures on the screen fueled his desire to be like them. He soon fixated on Reg Park, a massive man whose Herculean physique represented the ideal for Arnold. He had found a role model. 
From that point on, his life was "utterly dominated by Reg Park. His image was my ideal. It was fixed indelibly in my mind." 
Arnold found out everything he could about Reg Park, buying all the magazines that published Park's training programs. He learned what he ate, how he lived, and how he did his workouts. This obsession fueled his work-outs and he used his role model like a blueprint. If he did exactly what Reg Park did, he would get the same results.

"The more I focused in on this image and worked and grew, the more I saw it was real and possible for me to be like him."

Who is your mentor or role model? Who has already achieved the goal that you have set yourself? Who can you imitate? Whose mime can you catch? Find someone in your field of interest who has been successful and that you greatly admire and want to emulate; study them; find out all you can about them: live them; breathe them. There are heroes is every field of human endeavor.


I had the pleasure of meeting him once and his impression and charisma never left me.
Whenever my workout routine is in a dip, I just watch Arnold in action and I got inspired again.
This is part one of this blog about this great role-model.


Keep reading, Part II will follow soon,...


To your success!
Leo Stroobants
The Energy Evangelist
www.leostroobants.com