Tip #533 - Three Secrets to Achieving Success in Sales

Is there a secret to success? Yes, according to a recent Inc. article which explores the findings of several studies revealing how to achieve more success in life. While the principles could be applied to any aspect of a person’s life, this post focuses on how to achieve more success in sales.

1.     Keep Your Eyes on the Prize—Consistency is Critical
Delayed gratification isn’t something with which most Americans are familiar, however those who succeed pursue it vehemently. Successful sales people understand that sales isn’t a ‘one and done’ thing. It’s a process made up of equally important steps—a puzzle comprised of rapport, relationships, knowledge transfer, strategic planning and heaps of patience. Some sales cycles take years; some months or mere minutes. Acting consistently, maintaining confidence and being persistent in following a proven sales process are all seeds to growing sales.
Writer James Clear wrote “Top performers in every field—field, musicians, CEOs, artists–they are all more consistent than their peers,” he writes. “They show up and deliver day after day while everyone else gets bogged down with the urgencies of daily life and fights a constant battle between procrastination and motivation.” Everyone encounters obstacles; the successful people overcome them no matter what.

2.     Take Your Social Skills to New Levels
Most sales professionals are friendly, charismatic and pleasant to be around. Those characteristics will not suffice in creating sales success. In fact, according to research conducted by economist Catherine Weinberger, those who excel in business have both high cognitive ability and social skills, something that wasn’t true for previous generations. By linking data of adolescent skills’ assessment in 1972 and 1992 with adult outcomes, she found that having both skills did not correlate with success in 1980, however today the combination does. “The people who are both smart and socially adept earn more in today’s work force than similarly endowed workers in 1980,” she stated.
It is, therefore, more important than ever to turn networking skills up a notch. Jump out of your comfort zone and learn some new social skills. Tried and true ways of establishing trust, building rapport and creating lifetime customers are revealed in the Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage course. Consider enrolling in the course if you truly wish to propel your success.

3.     Understand that Confidence and Competence Are Equally Important.
Many sales professionals know their products inside and out. They can explain the manufacturing and quality assurance processes, and the return policies. They rattle off every single fact about a service—yet they are unable to reach their sales quotas.
Often times, sales professionals lack confidence which results in inaction. As Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, authors of The Confidence Code explain, “Taking action bolsters one’s belief in one’s ability to succeed, so confidence accumulates–through hard work, through success, and even through failure.”
In the Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage course, sales representatives learn all of the tools required to take action, and do so confidently. All critical inputs to the sales equation, from building rapport to uncovering hidden buying objections are taught so graduates can succeed in sales.

Tip #532- Unleash the Power of Persuasive Presentation

Effective presentation skills are critical for knowledge transfer, lecturing, sales, teaching, training and even personal activities such as serving on the board of a homeowner’s association. The power of a presentation is the key differentiator between success and failure when persuading colleagues, inspiring a team and/or presenting an idea to stakeholders.
If you’re unsure of your presentation skill level, ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I excited and confident when speaking to large audiences?
2. When presenting, does my audience’s verbal and non-verbal communication affirm that they understand what I am communicating?
3. I am a master of my material, but have I mastered all aspects of delivering powerful presentations?
4. Do I feel comfortable with all forms of presentations—oral, multimedia, PowerPoint, etc.?

If you answered ‘yes’ to all four questions, move on to more compelling content. If not, fear not—the Dale Carnegie High Impact Presentations course will transform you so that you can easily answer YES. This course has been proven to send professionals’ presentation skills soaring whether presenting to a small team or a large group.
Recipe for Success
The Dale Carnegie High Impact Presentations course is an intensive two-day seminar in which professionals learn tools that are immediately applied and reinforced over a series of eight class presentations. Students’ presentations are videotaped so that a personal coach can immediately review and evaluate participants’ performance. Critical communication skills, consistent coaching and the vulnerability of fellow students are key components to success.
Proven Four-Step Process
The High Impact Presentations course is comprised of four key steps:

1. Plan- Students describe their audience and ascertain the purpose of their talks based on the outcome sought with each audience.
2. Prepare- Participants learn how to establish a positive mind-set; generate an attention-getting opening; illustrate key points with evidence and visuals; and create a compelling closing.
3. Practice- Professionals build their self-confidence and effectiveness by practicing and reviewing their visuals for optimization.
4. Present- Students apply all of the skills learned in order to deliver powerful presentations—from the first impression to the Question and Answer session

Lead vs. Lecture
Anyone can read notes on PowerPoint slides in front of large groups, however most audiences do not have the attention span to digest information provided in a boring, monotonous tone. Powerful presentations engage rather than simply educate audiences. Graduates of the Dale Carnegie High Impact Presentations course project a positive image; are more relaxed and natural when delivering presentations; and inspire their audiences.
Polished to Persuasive
Many presenters know their material inside and out. Their appearance may be spot-on—professionally dressed and personally groomed. While these ingredients are important to the overall delivery of a presentation, the level of persuasion is much more critical than how polished the speaker may appear. Graduates use supporting facts and examples with clarity and force to persuade their audience with supporting facts and examples.
If you’re ready to unleash the power of your persuasive presentation skills, enroll in an upcoming Dale Carnegie High Impact Presentations course today!

For more information, visit our website!

Tip #531 Communication—Empower Employees in Three Steps

If life is a song, the lyrics are communication. Here are three steps to significantly improve workplace communication and ultimately empower employees.

1.     Ensure Internal Information Is Accessible and Inspirational
Despite today’s technologically utopian environment, information is often times poorly organized and/or unavailable to employees. This can be particularly frustrating for newer employees. If your organization’s onboarding process does not include how to access information, add it. If there is no onboarding process, an employee’s direct manager or colleague must review this information with the new employee.

Albert Einstein once said, “If I can’t picture it, I can’t understand it.” Make information accessible via an intranet or even simply hung on a bulletin board in a common area—as long as employees know where to find the information, workflow and knowledge transfer will improve. Use communication vehicles such as a social media page or newsletter to inspire as well as to educate. Post inspiring quotes; recent success stories; customer testimonials; photos and brief bio’s of the employee of the month—anything that will inspire camaraderie and productivity, and ultimately help keep communication flowing.

2.     Retreat and Recharge
Coordinating a retreat in which there is no work-related activity is an ideal way to establish camaraderie, encourage communication and improve teamwork. It’s unnecessary for bulky budgets—any activity from an obstacle course at a beach to an indoor tug-o-war will work wonders. Instead of focusing on work, employees focus on each other. After retreats, personal relationships are usually created or strengthened, and working relationships improve commensurately.
Too much work to complete or too many new findings to learn within an industry? Consider attending a professional conference. Team-building exercises that focus on learning can be just as fruitful as those that focus on non-work related activities. This is particularly important for reaching shy personality types. Team building activities, albeit a conference, are particularly effective with introverts because they are easily engaged. Bottom line—the more employees connect outside of the workplace, the more their overall communication will improve.

3.     Obtain an Open-Door Policy
Often times, communication is blocked because employees feel uncomfortable and apprehensive about discussing tough topics with management. Every single hand that touches your organization is important—from the mailroom to the boardroom. It is important to know when and where protocol is not being followed, and better yet, which improvements can be made.
Instituting an open-door policy empowers employees to speak openly and honestly. By making management approachable, employees feel that their opinions and observations matter, so they are more apt to communicate. Open-door policies result in greater contributions to the organization because employees believe that they are valued and respected. Dale Carnegie’s Human Relations principle #2 is ‘Give honest, sincere appreciation.’ Make sure to thank the employee for their courage and open communication.

Although taking these steps may be time-consuming, the future dividends are well worth the effort. Enroll in the Dale Carnegie Course for Effective Communications and Human Relations, and watch your verbal and non-verbal communication skills soar!

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Tip #530 - Overcoming Worry of Olympic Proportions- An Olympian's Story

A recent Fortune article highlights one Olympian's ability to turn stress into strength-and ultimate success. Emily Hughes was able to overcome obstacles of stress by following principles that exemplify  Dale Carnegie's formula for overcoming worry which is:

1. Live in "day-tight compartments." 

Growing up, Emily's dad always emphasized that she was a "student-athlete" and that "student" came first. This meant that despite having to train five hours per day, she never took any breaks from studying. By living in "day-tight compartments," she was able to maintain a serious focus on training for the Olympics while pursuing academic excellence including Emily's insistence on taking an advanced honors chemistry course.

Later in life, when Emily was interviewing for a role at Google Fiber, she completed six hours of back-to-back interviews on site at Google with confidence and ease. Instead of spending time worrying about how she would perform, she focused on doing well in each interview and succeeded by being selected as the best candidate.

2. How to face trouble:

• Ask yourself, “What is the worst that can possibly happen?”  In 2001, at just 12 years old, Emily competed in the U.S. Figure Skating Championship, but failed to make the 2006 U.S. team. She could have easily given up hope, but rose to the challenge in 2006 after Michelle Kwan’s groin injury created the opportunity for Emily to compete. Had she worried and thought, “I didn’t make the initial team; there is no way I’ll place well,” she would have lost the opportunity to compete in the 2006 Olympics. Instead, she pondered, “What is the worst that could possibly happen?” and overcame worry.
• Prepare to accept the worse.- As a professional skater, Emily not only anticipated constant correction, but mentally prepared for it. She stated, “With skating, constantly being corrected and told how to do something differently has helped me take constructive feedback better.”
• Try to improve on the worst.- Emily recognized that it was normal to make mistakes and critical to learn from them. She said, “In skating, every day, you fall and you have to get up. And falling is a pretty obvious failure. I’ve definitely learned from everything I’ve failed at.” Emily forced herself to consider the bigger picture with every setback. When she failed to qualify for the 2010 Olympics after taking a semester off from Harvard, she resumed her focus on academic achievement and found time to participate in organizations such as Harvard’s “Women in Business” club.

3. Remind yourself of the exorbitant price you can pay for worry in terms of your health.

Instead of allowing worry to compromise Emily’s health and usurp her opportunities, she focused on her future. She landed a business analyst role at Google last Nov. and attributes her love of competition and ‘an extraordinary tolerance for risk-taking and failure,’ for getting the job.
The next time you’re faced with worry of Olympic proportions, follow Dale Carnegie’s formula for overcoming worry and you too shall conquer.

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