Ways to Increase Sales and Grow Revenues

Marketing Outcomes / How to Grow Sales and Increase Revenues

Every prospect wants to know why they should buy from you. They want to know the outcome they will experience before they want to know how you will create those outcomes. Let’s start with four basic facts …

1.    Every prospect has a problem. This problem creates some negative emotions.

2.    Every product has features: Features are merely objective facts about a product (or the company behind it). In three-dimensional products, features include size, shape, weight, construction, color options and more. You need to be able to tell your prospect the feature of your product or service that will solve the problem. In information products, features include number of pages, size, frequency of publication (for periodicals) and the types of information that are presented.

3.    Fortunately, most features are there for a darned good reason: Prospects don’t want features. They want you to change their lives for the better. Product features are merely the means to that end. That means features can have a place in ad copy – like telling prospects how many issues they’ll get per year … how many big pages are in your book … or that your widget is made from carbon steel for strength or carbon fiber for lightness.

Beyond that, features are a yawn because they’re about the product; not about the prospect. Or, as in the examples above, they can help demonstrate how your product delivers a benefit. The good news is, just about every product fact – every feature – is there to provide a benefit that your prospect IS willing to pay for. Tell your prospect in no uncertain terms the benefits of a particular feature. But we do not want to stop there.

4.    Each benefit has a positive emotional outcome for the buyer. Many time there are more benefits associated with each product feature than are obvious to the average buyer. Each benefit or combination of benefits producing one, two, three or more new benefits you never thought about before. The secret to selling and marketing and most any other revenue generating activity is to identify each and every benefit a product provides – and the emotional outcome your buyer will experience.

5.    Your prospect is buying emotionally first, then they intellectualize & justify the purchase. Connecting the feature, benefits and outcomes makes it very easy for the buying to understand why you are the right and safe choice.

Outcome that sing and soar – in five simple steps

Here’s a little exercise to help you drill down to the outcomes prospects are willing to pay for and then connect those benefits with powerful response-boosting emotions that your prospect already has about those benefits (or the lack of them) in his life.

By the time you’re through, you will have a complete list of company and product features … you will have squeezed every possible benefit out of those features … you will have fully defined the outcomes of those benefits and you will have connected each one to a powerful emotion your prospect has about each one of them.

In short, you’ll have a comprehensive “features/benefits/emotional outcome” inventory you can refer to as you create your marketing message, write your copy, build your sales presentation or create contents for your website.

Going through this exercise can go a long way towards finding new themes and adding power to your sales and marketing.

To begin, create a spreadsheet with these headings:

Problem

Negative Emotional Outcomes of Problem

Feature that Solves the Problem

Tangible Benefits of that Feature

Positive Emotional Outcome Prospect with Experience

Rank

 

Write until all know problems are identified and documented. Document how they feel when they experience this problem. Next write the feature of your product or service that solves the problem and document the benefit of that feature. Finally, describe the positive emotional outcome the buyer will experience.

When complete, rank them in order of importance.

He is an example of what your table should look like.

Problem: Sales have plateaued

Emotional Impact of Problem: So frustrated because no matter what I do, I just can’t figure out how to take the sales to the next level. And I’m always the one having to do the sales

Feature: Learn how to build a sales and marketing system

Benefit of Feature: You can stop being the only “sales guy” and start leveraging your marketing and sales processes so that customers come to you to purchase, instead of you chasing them. You will grow sales!

Emotional Outcome: You’ll feel a great sense of relief … no more anxiety about “where is the next sale going to come from?” and you won’t have to be chasing prospective customers all the time … prospects who are hiding from you.

When you complete this process you will have all the material you need to write a great sales letter, create compelling web copy, and build a powerful sales presentation and some much more.

This process is where increase profits and grow sales begins. You need to understand your prospects better than they understand themselves. When completed, you can tell them exactly what they can expect when they work with you.

If you want a more detailed, step by step process, go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and download our free report: Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered before They Buy.

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein www.businessgrowthexperience.com

Ron@businessgrowthexperience.com 330-990-0788

p.s. Go to www.businessgrowthexperience.net and supply your email address. We will notify you when we launch our membership site that will take you step by step through our sales and marketing system to help you grow sales and increase revenues.

50% of the People Will Hate You!

50% of the People Will Hate You!

I am reading John Smoltz’s autobiography. If you are not familiar with Smoltz, he played professional baseball for over 20 years. The book focuses on the last year he played.

Smoltz is a very competitive individual. He did not like to lose, He loved playing for Atlanta and he would do what was necessary to help his team win (as long as it was legal, moral and ethical.)

What is compelling about his story is that he was not afraid to fail.

When he failed in a game (gave up 8 runs in 2/3rd of an inning) he would go back to the bullpen and make the necessary adjustment. He would take the changes he tested in the bullpen and implement them in the game. Many players would make the adjustments in the bullpen and never implement them in a game situation. His point is that these changes must be implemented or why do them.

The book is about his ability to fail forward to achieve success.

I see the same thing with my sales coaching. Many people learn the material but they never apply it. They are afraid to fail.

I remember when I wrote my first book. I waited for six months after it was ready before I released it. I was afraid of what others would think. I finally released it. That started a creative streak that lasted five years. I wrote four books in five years: Two of them went international. That would not have happened if I let my fear of failure control my behavior.

As a result of that work, I team up with TruNorth and Dr. Tony Alessandra to create a sales training web site that will be available in late January 2013. That would not have happened if I did not get over my fear of failure. Here is the press release!

Fear of failure is simply a belief. It is a belief that you can release if you choose to. It simply means you acknowledge the fear and do it anyway. As Dan Kennedy once said, “50% of the people will love you, 50% of the people will hate you. Ignore people who hate you and focus on the people who love you.”

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

Go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and download your free report. “Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered Before They Buy”

 

You Just Made me Wrong

You Just Made me Wrong

I was in a meeting a few weeks ago with a business associate and we were talking about what it means to collaborate.

When he finished his long definition, I made the statement that what he said sounds like adaptability and not collaboration.

Here looked at me as said, “You just made me wrong.”

I have been thinking about this meeting and his statement for a while and I asked myself this question: By suggesting a different definition of what he was saying, did I make him wrong? Or did he decide, that by not agreeing with him, he was wrong.

What I realized is this form of miscommunication is what causes problems in all relationships: family, business, friends, etc.

Recently, I wanted to attend an event and I could not make it because of a schedule conflict. I called the creator of the event and express a desire to attend and I was unable because of a schedule conflict. His comment was, “we can’t please everyone.”

What he was really saying is when you do an event it is hard to accommodate all schedules. What I heard was, “you are not that important.” I know this individual and we discussed the implications of that discussion and we both realized we did not communicate effectively.

Do we make others feel wrong, unimportant or insignificant?   Is it our beliefs that make us feel wrong, unimportant or insignificant?

Did the transmitter communicate wrongness or did the receiver translate what was said into wrongness?

This is where the sales process breaks down. We use words and communicate that meaning that both the transmitter and the receiver do not understand to have the same meeting.

I was in a meeting and the individual used the words, “I want to create a community of…”

When I heard the words “community” I think Facebook, LinkedIn, Monster, etc. I then asked what the word community meant and she gave me an entirely different definition. If I did not ask that question I would have taken her down a marketing path that was not what she wanted to achieve.

The real lesson here is ask, don’t assume. Clarify your words and don’t expect the receiver to understand your meaning. If you are the receiver it is ok to ask for clarification.

To Your Personal & Business Growth (because there is not difference)

Ron Finklestein 330-990-0788 ron@akris.net

p.s. Please download the free report, The Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered Before They Buy at Http://www.businessgrowthexperience.com to prefect the message you communicate with prospects, customers, and business associates as a thank you for reading this blog post.

 

Influence vs. Manipulation

I recently wrote an article on the difference between influence vs. manipulation.  I posted it on  http://www.businessgrowthexperience.com 

Here is the link: http://businessgrowthexperience.com/?p=829

At the end of the article is a link to a PDF entitled, How to Build Rapport with Anyone in 90 Seconds or Less. Consider it a gift to you, my readers. You will not have to provide any information. You can just download it.

To your success

Ron Finklestein

ron@akris.net

330-990-0788

Basics of Healthy Sales Relationships

Basics of Healthy Sales Relationships

Nothing can bring more satisfaction to a business owner than knowing they have a healthy relationship with their customer and vendors.

And, of course, as many people find out, nothing can bring so much pain as a broken relationship.

Yes, relationships make the world go ‘round. For better or for worse. There are basics that govern most human relationships, and these basics are what I want to cover below. So here is my list of the three essentials that I believe make up the basics of healthy business relationships.

1.      Honesty. Honesty is the backbone of a great business relationship. If you do not trust your customers how can you expect them to trust you? I recently had an experience where the vendor really messed up and instead of telling me the truth and letting me decide how to respond, he kept the issues from me. Things got progressive worst until we split on less than friendly terms. I would have preferred to salvage the relationship if possible.

Communication is so important because it is the vehicle that allows us to verbalize what is inside us and enables it to connect with another person. Isn’t communication amazing? One person is feeling one thing, and through communication, another person can find that out and feel it, too—amazing. And this is a vital goal in good relationships—to communicate, to tell each other what we are thinking and what we are feeling. It enables us to make a connection. Sometimes we are the one speaking, and other times we are listening. Either way, the central tenet is communication for the sake of building the relationship and making it stronger. And here’s what’s exciting: If we just communicate, we can get by. But if we communicate skillfully, we can work miracles!

It helps if we can communication our message in a way our customers understand. There are six questions our prospects wants answered before they buy from us. Go to the Business Growth Experience web site  and download this report. This report documents the basic communications our prospects and customers want from us.

2.      Integrity. Do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it. Nothing is more frustrating than making a plan based on the action of someone else and then at the last-minute finding out they did not do it. Be respectful of your customers and business partners and expect the same in return. People make decisions on what you say and do; sometimes very important decisions. We need to respect that.

I once had a vendor who never returned calls. I could not make any plans and any decisions that were made always changed because of his lack of follow through. Needless to say that relationship did not last long. If he had only responded and followed through things would have been great.

3.      Common Sense. Every relationship must have a win-win component. If either person in the relationship feels taken advantage of, feelings are hurt and rash decisions are made.  Jim Rohn calls this common purpose. Think about how many friends you have met through the years while working on a common purpose. With common purpose there is something in it for everyone. You had that strong common bond of purpose that brought you together and held you together. Working together, building together, failing and succeeding together—all while pursuing a common purpose—that is what relationships are made of. Find people with whom you have common purposes and sow the seeds of great relationships, and then reap the long-lasting benefits.

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
330-990-0788

 

Why People do not Trust You!

Why People do not Trust You!

People do not trust you!

Why should they?

There is so much information available and much of it is junk.

How do we get through the unsolicited info?

How to we manage the onslaught of information and determine what is real?

How do we know the info is the most current?

How do we deal with the contradiction?

Unless you can help your prospects and clients answer he above questions they will never trust you.

There are six questions your prospects want answered before they buy from you.

Go here www.businessgrowthexperience.com and download my free report that not only helps you define those six questions, it will help you answer them.

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788 ron@ businessgrowthexperience.com

Want to learn more call for your free assessment!

15 Things and Some Feedback

I wanted to share with you some articles to help you grow sales and share with you some good news.

First the good news: We open a Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker office in Solon. This office will be run by Tom Schroth. This is important to you as a client, because you can attend any of our sales training session, in any office, as part of your membership in the Business Growth Experience. Our goal is to make life easy for you and you can expect more announcements. To find out more call Tom @ (440) 836-4211 / tom@tomschroth.com.

Many people have wrong ideas of what selling is all about. We challenge these myths in this brief article entitled: 15 Things I wish my Mother told me about Selling

If the hyperlink does not work just click here: http://businessgrowthexperience.com/?p=801

Many people go about asking for referrals in a way that leaves a bad impression. Here is one I recently encountered that I want to make you aware of so you do not make the same mistake. The article is called: How to Alienate your Referral Partners

If the hyperlink does not work just click here: http://businessgrowthexperience.com/?p=781

Many people in sales understand how important it is not to take things personally. When you realize it is just feedback you can respond as the situation calls for not jump to conclusions.

If the hyperlink does not work just click here: http://businessgrowthexperience.com/?p=768

To learn more we are conducting a workshop on how to grow sales. It is 10/10/12 at the Wellness Center in Montrose. In this workshop you will learn some of the common “secrets” successful sales people know and use daily: Six reason prospects do not buy, the one major hurdle we must all overcomes, three proven ways to grow sales and so much more. There is no charge but registration is required.  We are filling up fast and I would encourage you to sign up now while you are thinking about it. We are limited on space and we are only allowing ten people into this event. If the hyperlink does not work just click here: http://becomearainmaker.eventbrite.com/

Lastly, we like helping people grow sales, increase revenues and shorten the sales process. As a result we are making available to you a eBook to simplify your sales process. If you are having trouble getting in front of the right people or closing the sales, this report is for you. It is called Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered BEFORE They Buy. Just go to WWW.BUSINESSGROWTHEXPERIENCE.COM to download your report.

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788

ron @ businessgrowthexperience.com

p.s. please drop me an email and let me know how you are using the articles I post. I will share selected comments going forward as a way to share ideas transfer knowledge.

Sales Success is an Inside Job

Do you wonder about the how successful sales person becomes successful?

Tim Connor, in his book Soft Selling, discussed how average sales people spent 2% of their time in self-improvement and successful sale reps spent an average of 10% of their time in personal development.

In this post, Selling is an Inside job, the author suggest lack of time spent in personal development is communicated to the prospects in whys we do not really understand but we all have experience.

What message are you sending to you prospect without realizing it and how is impacting your sales?

 

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
330-990-0788
ron@akris.net

It is just feedback

There is a blog post on www.businessgrowthexperience.com that discussed a concept near and dear to my heart called, ” It is just Feedback.”

Most people see feedback as criticism when in reality it is nothing more than feedback. If someone likes something you did, remember, it is just feedback.

If someone does not like something – it is just feedback.

If someone buys from you, it is just feedback. Same when they do not buy.

Here is the article – Enjoy

http://businessgrowthexperience.com/?p=768

Ron Finklestein

 

Who Should be Your New Best Friend?

You New Best Friend.

Most people are not excited to see a sales rep walk into their office. Defenses go up almost immediately.

This is strange to me because I get more new ideas, market intelligence and industry news from the sales reps who visit my office than from other places.

They see so many more people than I do.

They visit so many more companies that I do.

They see what others are doing that works.

They see what others do that doesn’t work.

Being a good sales rep is not just about selling your product or service. It is about helping the people you meet be more successful.

On a side note, there was a study done on what customers want from their sales rep. This study indicated that the customer wants accountability from the sales rep. In different words, they want the rep to be accountable for the success the customer will achieve when they buy the product or service.

Next time a sales rep comes into you office ask them how they are accountable for the overall success of the product or service. In our sales training we offer a 100% return on investment guarantee. We want to be held accountable. Want to learn more? Call me, Ron Finklestein, at 330-990-0788 or email me at ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

 

Grow, prosper, and get results with,

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
330-990-0788

Business Growth Experience Update

This is different from my normal blog post.

Frankly, I just wanted to share some good news. Today we want to bring you up to speed on all the changes and good things that have happened and how they affect you and your business.

Our newest Product: Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program

We have spent the last 10 years helping some businesses grow sales and solve a variety of business problems. We still do that and we added a new product to help you. In addition to Business Growth Experience memberships site, marketing programs, workshops, seminars and group coaching, we added the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker training program. This program is designed to make you more successful by helping you to grow sales, increase revenues and shorten your sales cycle. We are so confident this program will work for you we offer a 100% Return on Investment guarantee. To learn more call Ron Finklestein at 330-990-0788 / ron@businessgrowthexperience.com or attend one of our executive briefings.

What Others Say Who Have Been Involved in The Business Growth Experience

“Before the Business Growth Experience we were averaging 2.7 new clients per month. After working with the Business Growth Experience we are averaging 7 new clients a month. In one month we paid for your service.” Ron Conte, Akron Payroll & Tax

Executive Briefings – Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program

To roll out the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program, we are conducting several executive briefings. Here is what you can expect to learn:

  • Three ways to increase sales in any business
  • The six reasons your prospects do not buy from you
  • The seven expectations your customers have of you
  • The single biggest sales issues we must address and why it is important
  • Learn how to use social media as one tool to generate leads and grow sales
  • What you can do to grow sales now
  • Why marketing is the critical and usually missing first step in a sales process for small business owners
  • How to make your customer feel you are the right and safe choice
  • And so much more…

If you are in Summit County, go here to see our schedule: http://becomeasalesrainmaker.eventbrite.com.

If you live in Cuyahoga County (East Side) go here http://solonbge.eventbrite.com.

More Good News

Tom Schroth has joined the Business Growth Experience as a trainer specifically for the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program. Tom’s background encompasses a broad range of experience including franchising, small business start-ups and work in corporate America. Holding a degree in Marketing and Business Administration with 20+ years of Entrepreneurship, Tom is often described as a Teacher / Trainer with the soul of a Sales Person and the heart of an Entrepreneur. As a coach and consultant he brings the Best Practices of corporations, personal experience and “outside the box” creative thinking to come up with effective unique solutions. Tom will be facilitating the Sales Rainmaker Program and the Business Growth Experience throughout Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Tom can be contacted at tom@wboardgroup.com and 440-836-4211.

Next month we will be announcing a new training for Stark County. Stay tuned.

49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK)

Ron Finklestein’s book 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales continues to sell internationally. We recently receive a contract from a publishing house in mainland China to sell the Chinese translation of the book. It is exciting to have the book exposed to over one billion people.

49 Marketing Secrets is currently sold in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, India, The Czech Republic, The United States and now China. To order the book from Amazon just click here

Small Business Talk Radio

Ron Finklestein has been asked by long time small business talk radio host Dale Stefancic to co-host Small Business Talk Radio.  We are on every Wednesday from 4:30- 5:30 PM on 1330 on the AM dial or through the Internet at WELW.com (press the listen now button.) We work hard at showcasing local business owners and dealing with important business topics in the small business market. Please join us and let us know what topics you are interested in hearing about. Email me at ron@businessgrowthexperience.com with your suggestions. During the month of August we are going to talk about finding the money. We will have a banker, third party financing representative and a chief financial officer talk about how to find money in your business.

Are you Proud to be in Sales?

It took me many years to fully appreciate the power of being in sales. When I am selling, I am proud of what I do because selling is a profession where I can change the life of people I work with, feel good about it and get paid for it. I hope you feel the way. If not call me and let’s talk because anyone who is not proud of their product or service will struggle.   See more in our latest blog post.

Our Latest Blog Post (Why is Sales So Hard?)

Selected Business of the Month! How to Save Money!

I just meet Joe Campbell. Joe runs a business call the Buckeye Xchange. The Buckeye Xchange does business through barter. He has a good story and you will learn how to grow your business and save money at the same time. Check it out: http://www.buckeyebarterexchange.com . Tell him Ron sent you. If you prefer a person to talk to you can reach Joe at 330-659-0225. There are over 200 businesses already participating.

 

Regards,
Ron Finklestein
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com
www.businessgrowthexperience.com (download your fr.e.e. report Six Questions Your Prospects Want Answered BEFORE They Buy From You)

Why is Sales so hard?

Why is Sales so hard?

I do a lot of sales training and I heard two common complaints:

  1. Sales is hard
  2. I hate sales

Sales is hard if you do not know who your ideal customer is and why they should buy from you. To understand why your clients do not buy, download your free report at www.businessgrowthexperience.com.

If you hate sales and you need to sell to make a living you have two choices:

  1. Find a new profession
  2. Understand that selling is the faster and easiest way to change a persons’ life for the best.

If you do not believe your product or service will profoundly change someone’s life for the best, you have the wrong product or you are in the wrong profession.

To learn more, check out www.businessgrowthexperience.com

Sincerely,

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

 

Evaluating Your Associations by Jim Rohn

Evaluating Your Associations by Jim Rohn

I’d like for us to take a look at the power of influence in our lives and how it is possible to be nudged off course a little at a time until finally, we find ourselves asking, “How did I get here?”

We should ask ourselves three key questions:

1) “Who am I around?” You’ve got to evaluate everybody who is able to influence you in any way.

2) “What are these associations doing to me?” That’s a major question to ask. “What have they got me doing, listening to, reading, thinking and feeling?” You’ve got to make a serious study of how others are influencing you, both negatively and positively.

3) “Is that okay?” Maybe everyone you associate with has been a positive, energizing influence. Then again, maybe there are some bad apples in the bunch. All I’m suggesting here is that you take a close and objective look. Everything is worth a second look, especially the power of influence. Both will take you somewhere, but only one will take you in the direction you need to go.

Only then can we discuss three ways to handle associations or relationships that are holding you back.

1) Disassociate. This is not an easy decision, nor something you should take lightly, but in some cases it may be essential. You may just have to make the hard choice not to let certain negative influences affect you anymore. It could be a choice that preserves the quality of your life.

2) Limited association. Spend major time with major influences and minor time with minor influences. It is easy to do just the opposite, but don’t fall into that trap. Take a look at your priorities and your values. We have so little time at our disposal. Wouldn’t it make sense to invest it wisely?

3) Expanding your associations. This is the one I suggest you focus on the most. Find other successful people that you can spend more time with. Invite them to lunch (pick up the tab) and ask them how they have achieved so much or what makes them successful. Now, this is not just about financial success; it can be someone who you want to learn from about having a better marriage, being a better parent, having better health or a stronger spiritual life.

It is called association on purpose—getting around the right people by expanding your circle of influence. And when you do that, you will naturally limit the relationships that are holding you back. Give it a try and see for yourself.

To your success,

 

Ron Finklestein
Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker Program

www.businessgrowthexperience.com
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com
330-990-0788

Well I hate being sold to!

I have been a big fan of Neuromarketing. Neuromarketing is simply understanding how the brain like to process information and creating a marketing message that resonates with the brain. A business associate of mine, Dennis Andrew, wrote a really good article on how to sell using some simply Neuromarketing techniques. Below is his article unedited. I know you will enjoy this.
If you want to reach Dennis here is contact info: Dennis Andrew, NNOS Studios, 503.877.4880 ~ direct

 

It seems that most of the emails I get are just selling, selling, selling. Well I hate being sold to. When I meet someone I want to know how they think, not if I’m a qualified buyer.

Here’s a bit of info you’ll probably enjoy. It’s on how clients make decisions.

Understand that the “decision-making” part of the brain is like a child, not an adult. It needs to be unlocked, not forced. It doesn’t choose something because it is a logical decision. If it did, everyone’s products would be sold. People make decisions based on emotions and (after the decision is already made) then it mixes with another part of the brain that FINDS (creates) a logical justification.

To unlock it, you must work around the fact that this part of your client’s brain is self-centered. That’s why it is all about them and little about you or your company. This part is always searching for any disruptions and things out of the ordinary. It is also searching for things that are familiar, concrete, recognizable…all tangible input.

Be sure to use contrast like before/after, fast/slow, with/without, and express it visually as much as you can. The optic nerve is some 40x faster than the auditory nerve.

When you engage with them, it is the beginnings and endings that get remembered. Talk about the most important info first and repeat it at the end. Don’t talk about who you are and what you do first.

Since we all have preconceived biases about products/services, it is very important to note that we rate experiences not by the experience as a whole, but by the best/worst moments, and the beginning/ending. What is ugly (or beautiful) here, is that we form our perception of the person/company by the ending of the experience. Don’t end the client experience with a bill.

People don’t remember you by what you tell them, but by how you made them feel. Likewise, they won’t remember your company by what they gave you or got from you, but by how they FELT as a result of that.

Clients’ brains are looking for the gap…what you offer that others don’t. Present these in sets of three. The brain likes “3.”

I ran across a statistic showing that people are willing to pay 4x the price if they know they’re getting twice the value. If the value of your product is unknown, only then does price become the default differentiating factor between you and competition. Price is what they pay, value is what they get.

Don’t sell the features, sell the benefits those features provide.

If you have any question or want to learn the six questions your prospects want answered before they, go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and download the free report.

If you want to learn more on how to grow your business, give me a call. We specialize in helping business owners grow sales, increase revenues and shorten the sales process.

Sincerely,
Ron Finklestein
www.ronfinklestein.com
330-990-0788
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

 

I AM NOT DONE!

What is holding you back?

I recently went on a weekend retreat with several members of a group I started many years ago. The agenda was simple. All each participant had to do was answer one question: What holds you back? You could discuss personal, business, relationship issues or anything important to you.

Without a doubt the most common answer was – ME! I hold myself back. As we probed deeper we heard such things as:

“I am afraid of failure/success.”

“I fear rejection.”

“I need to forgive.”

“I know what I need to do but I am not doing it because it is not fun.”

“I need to be liked.”

“I am not a salesman.”

I could go on but you get my drift.

My experience is that business skills are easy to teach but the beliefs we have about ourselves are the deciding factors.

Can you put your biggest fears out for all to see? If you say “no,” you will have serious problems overcoming them. They lose much of their power once they are shared with others.

Each of us had a chance to put our issues on the table for the world to see. It took courage, intestinal fortitude and a willingness to risk it all. What I found was the group was supportive, nonjudgmental, accepting and each and everyone expressed a sincere effort to understand and help me go deeper.

My awaking was that we all suffer from the flaws of being human. Though I was in the room with people I consider to be successful, I realized we are all human, we all have our fears and doubt AND we are all capable of more.

Share your fears and risk being human. You will find another human will respond. It is liberating to feel heard and understood.

I now know what “I am not done” means to me.

Thanks to all who shared a powerful weekend with me. You know who you are.

 

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com
www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com

What Can You Learn from Business Failures? What Can You Learn from Business Failures?

What Can You Learn from Business Failures?

It’s a well known saying that you can learn from your failures and this is supposed to apply to business as well, but is it true? Do failures really teach anything that doesn’t lead people into another failure later in life or do people who have failed magically become model businessmen and women?

Business failures are often blamed on some specific occurrence or on somebody else. Perhaps only those who can accept responsibility can move on to be better business people rather than hoping for the perfect balance transfers to get them out of their one way ticket to bankruptcy.

What failure means

One of life’s most stressful times is when a business fails. It is like a death in the family and there is a grieving period to mourn through. Failure brings up thoughts of negativity. Most business people want to just get up and move on to their next venture but the personal and financial problems may not disappear as soon as another business begins.

People close to the entrepreneur will feel the sadness in losing their baby – their business. Some of those close enough to the events may never want to go near a business again if they have to be involved in its formation and then production. For some, it can be even more serious and the loss of their business can lead to more serious personal problems, some which even lead to the need for alcohol or drug abuse treatment.

Unfortunately, even in those trying times you need to turn around and be positive. It is part of a life journey and with those experiences you may recognize the problem if it occurs again. You will be able to see the situation and react differently and much quicker to solve the issues that caused your business to fail.

There will need to be an evaluation of why you failed. These results should set you on the right path so you will be confident you won’t fail again.

The choice is yours

Whatever happened and whatever will occur in the future, you bear the responsibility to make a successful business. How you present yourself is the first choice you make which will affect how you recover from an initial failure.

You need to be able to take the positives from your failures and build on them. You learnt how to get past failure in school. You didn’t know the alphabet to begin with, but after many failures you knew it off by heart quite soon. Business is much the same, except there is always a bigger financial and personal risk.

Failing is succeeding

Failing is a tough pill to swallow and no one wants to give up, but seeing the positive side of one’s circumstances positions you for greater chances to find success in the future.

You will need to see failure as a building block for success. Only quality entrepreneurs can see the opportunity when failure is all round. The growth of your new business will be based on the positives from your previous business coupled with the lessons you have learned. Failure is only a state of mind after your business has closed. The business is gone and it is up to you to ensure the future holds a better run business.

Time management

You will need to assess your time management and decide if this had anything to do with your business failure. Being in control of your time is a major step in moving a business forward. Too many people concentrate on the wrong priorities in business and often fail to see the bigger picture. You should excel where you have the skills to succeed and employ others to control the aspects of your business that are not your best areas. When you are not a master accountant, have someone else manage your accounts and learn how to check them carefully. If you spend too long on the wrong side of your business you can’t be expected to see the problems as they happen.

Moving with technology

You can’t expect to run your business with technology that is years out of date. Computers, software and business machinery have developed so far in the last few years that you must move with the times if you are to keep abreast of the best aids to help your business. If your web presence is lacking, your competitors will sleep easy at night.

Learn from your mistakes and plan properly to maximize the education you gain through your failure. Success might be just around the corner.

To Your Success

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com

ron@ronfinklestein.com

Using LinkedIn as a Prospecting Tool to Turn Cold Calls into Warn Calls

Using LinkedIn as a Prospecting Tool to Turn Cold Calls into Warn Calls

Jacci Adams of 3X4 Consulting, a social media consulting company, did a presentation on how to use LinkedIn as a prospecting tool. I was impressed with the simplicity of her approach that I asked her if I could share it. She agreed. Please give Jacci’s website a visit to see more details on what she does.

A special thanks to Jacci for allowing me to share one of her “trade secrets.” In being transparent, Jacci is a client of mine. Because I know her so well, I am confident she can help if you are confused about how to use social media to grow sales through social media lead generation.

I cannot give you LinkedIn training here so I am assuming you are a member of LinkedIn and know how to use the search tool.

  1. Click on the advance search icon in the top right of the LinkedIn home page.
  2. Type in the industry keyword/title for the people you are trying to reach (i.e., Chiropractor, Manufacturer, Realtor, etc.)
  3. Enter the zip code of where you want the search to target and the mileage radius of how far you are willing to go.
  4. You can find any connections you have that meet the search criteria.
  5. For the 3rd connections and beyond LinkedIn provides only the first name and last initial. If you click to see the full name, LinkedIn will ask you to upgrade. Here is where you get creative
  6. Click on the company’s website link (in the search results.) Go to the About Us tab and see if the information you are looking for is there. Many times it is. You can get all the background you need.
  7. Do a Google search on the person’s name
  8. This search will tell you things like where they went to school, businesses they are associated with and how long they have been in business.
  9. Using LinkedIn you can do a search to see if anyone in your network knows them. If so either request an introduction of call them directly and introduce yourself. You already have enough information about the individual to know what you have in common.

If you do not have time or do not what to do this research yourself, you can hire someone through:

www.odesk.com

www.fiverr.com

www.99percent.com

If you know how to use the tools above and you are uncertain about making the call, consider improving your people skills so you are more comfortable. You can learn more www.akris.net.

Happy Prospecting

Ron Finklestein
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

ww.businessgrowthexperience.com

You can subscribe to my blog at www.ronfinklestein.com

How to Price a Product

Your pricing formula (or pricing a product or service)

I recently received a request from one of my blog readers to do an article on pricing your product. He sent me some great articles he found on the net. After reading them I realized he may have been over thinking the pricing issues. To me it is fairly simple. There are only three outcomes to consider:

  1. Your product is priced too high and no action is taken (the competition is complacency.)
  2. Your product is priced too high and it invites the buyer to buy from someone else (I need to make sure I am getting the best VALUE.)
  3. You price your product to low and you introduce concern from the buyer because he wonders what is being missed (lack of trust.)

Pricing your product can be simple if you let it but you must price it from the buyer’s perspective. As a business owner you need to know both your fixed and variable cost and ensure you cover those cost while remembering the buyer is not concerned with your cost. They simply don’t care.

From my perspective, here is what you need to be concerned about. What does your competition charge? This is important if the consumer has a preconceived notion of the value of the product. For example, if I go to a paint store and see a gallon on paint is priced at $50, I might go to another store to see if I can get the same quality (different brand) for a better price. I may have a belief that I am not going to pay more than $30 for a gallon of paint (or $20K for a car, or $3 for loaf of bread, or $1 for a pen, etc.)

The bigger issue for me is the value proposition. I believe people will pay to solve a problem and in many respects they will pay a premium if they believe you are the right and safe choice. Making the buyer understand that you are the right and safe choice is both hard and critical. Understand this is not a universal construct. For example, if I have $1 to spend for pen it may not matter if it is a BIC or another brand as long as it fits my budget. If I have a Rolls Royce for sale and my buying audience cannot afford a Rolls (or do not want it) then price it does not matter.

The hard work is the unique value proposition, helping other to understand your value, where and how to market your product and knowing how the problem you solve will allow you to charge more.

Pricing the product is in fact telling a story about the product. For example, why would I pay $50 for a gallon of paint when I can a similar product for 40% less? If price is not an issue, you can focus on the parts of the products story that are important to a client. The higher price for the paint can be told in a story: it is safer (less smell), easier to clean (important to a busy mother because it save time), last longer (don’t have to do it as often), provide a better finish (looks better), or is easier to apply (saves time.)  If those concepts are not important to your audience, you have a different kind of problem.

Sometimes price is not a consideration. If you are selling to high net worth individuals, they are buying prestige and convenience. The price is secondary. If I am buying a gallon of paint, price is primary.

Finally, pricing is impacted by the demographics of the audience. It is harder to sell your product using “pain” as the value proposition when selling to an older audience because their life experience tells them that “been there done that. This too shall pass.” Pain works better on younger people who have a need for more immediate gratification.

Bottom line is that pricing is an effective marriage between cost to produce, what people will pay, and the story that motivates them to buy.

 

To Your Success,

Ron Finklestein
www.BusinessGrowthexperience.com

ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

330-990-0788

 

A Year in Review for a Great 2012 A Year in Review for a Great 2012

I am a co-host on Small Business Talk radio with Dale Stefancic. Dale wrote an article for a local newspaper that I wanted to share. It does a great job of helping you get ready to have a great year. If you would like to contact Dale, you can reach him at dale@dalestefancic.com. We invite you to listen to our radio program at welw.com, Be sure to press the listen now button. We are on air every Wednesday from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM EST.

A Year in Review for a Great 2012

 

For many small business owners 2011 was more of a game of survival. Many challenges still face us and the economy as we try to press forward and identify opportunity and how we can take full advantage of it.

We discussed many items and topics this past year in my effort to try and make you better in your business and create some awareness of what needs to be accomplished to move forward and be more profitable.

So what I wanted to do being the end of 2011 and as we think and decide what 2012 may bring is a review that I hope renews some fresh ideas and thinking of how to win the challenges ahead of all of us.

LEADERSHIP:

People identify with leaders. They are well respected and have a strong voice with accomplishments in their field of expertise. As a business owner, you must constantly strive to be the leader in what you do. Some of the points of leadership to keep in mind are:  Leaders should know and understand that people are the core building blocks of their team and/or organization.  To be an effective leader, you need to understand the core building block of your people and their respective values.  Leadership begins from within.  Identify core roles, prioritize them and plan on development and then acting on them.  Any relationship begins with you.  Leadership begins with you.  To be effective, it is dependent on your ability to communicate effectively.

 

NETWORKING:

 

This is a great time of the year. The holidays are here and the thoughts of 2012 and what we might expect in the new year with business.

Many of us will be at social and business events meeting  many new people as well as many friends.

For these reasons the topic of networking is very timely.

Today  if you are networking correctly, it’s more than meet and greet with an exchange of business cards and contact information.

You have to network with the intent of turning contacts into connections and eventually business allies or customers.

As you attend your events you need to have a specific game plan in mind.

Make your connections, and then build relationships with these individuals.

The relationships can range from identifying some of the needs of your business or relationships that will bring more business to your company.

The key here is to develop your network with great people and cement those relationships to be a resource for you.

You cannot do it alone. All great businesses have very successful networks in place.

Also keep in mind the relationship is a two way street. Don’t just talk or think about what’s in it for you but lead with a value proposition that will make the person you are connecting with have a reason to develop the relationship further.

Over deliver and your investments of time, money and energy will be repaid ten fold.

TIME AND PRODUCTIVITY:

Time relates to productivity more than you might realize. Time can be as big a loss of profits for your company as almost anything else. When you better manage time you will be more productive. When you are more productive you will make more profit.

Here are some SMART things to think about. S.M.A.R.T. being an acronym for:

S- SPECIFIC- Being as specific as you can with bringing the reality in site of your goal.

M-MEASURABLE- You must be able to measure your results.  You can only measure your results if you are tracking all your activity that pertains to your business.

A-ATTAINABLE- Is your goal one that is reachable and in the time that you have allotted?

R-RELEVANT- Is the goal relevant to the purpose of your business or

your  personal life?  Is the goal you set bringing you closer to that purpose?

T-TIME SENSITIVE- Does your goal have a deadline?  With a deadline in front of you, your mind realizes it has to accomplish certain tasks within a certain time.

So to be productive, be S.M.A.R.T.

I think as business owners, we all realize what it takes as well as what we need to do.  But, how we measure, track and evaluate the activities we do, will help in becoming better, more profitable and leaves  us with more time to do the things we enjoy.

 

SELLING:

We may not like it but we have to constantly adjust and adapt to the process and fully understand the needs of the market and the consumer. Here are some points to keep in your selling mindset.  First, people in your target market will first buy you. Also making sure you know your market and the needs and what your market is looking for will be key in this step.

If your prospect has not bought into you, I doubt if you have any shot at a sale even if you are the cheapest price in town.

I’m sure you have heard the phrase that attitude is everything, well if you are in sales, it’s a really big key to your success in sales.

People will pay more for an agreeable, enjoyable experience with a great product than just one based on it’s the cheapest.

The individual that combines a great product with a great attitude can be unstoppable.

Today, many  companies are basing lost sales because of price. Granted some people do just shop price, but in most categories on products and services, price is only a factor in 14%-20% statistically.

Secondly, you need to think more in line with the buyer’s thinking. While your buyer may be objecting to price, here’s what is swimming around in his or her mind.

1.)Is there a better product? 2.) Is the proposal right? 3.) Will this really solve my problems? 4.) Will we use it? 5.) What will others think if I buy this? 6.) Will the company really service me and honor the guarantee?

With this partial list of objections, you need to be going through your prospects thought process and be prepared to present in a more thorough manner making the buying decision safe for you prospects instead of just driving the price factor home.

Too many businesses today are leading there marketing and advertising campaigns with price and not with value, experience, quality, strong guarantee’s and taking the risk out of the buying process.

Many times the sales person is just not totally prepared or has not taken the time to identify the needs of the prospect, as well as what the prospect is truly looking for.

Today as consumers become more savvy and aren’t as willing just to throw their money around without thinking about after the sale, don’t be afraid to lead with the value, expertise, quality and guarantee of what you are selling.

Communicate to your buyer that your service after the sale will be unmatched as you take the risk out of the purchase and make buying a pleasure for your prospect.

If you are leading with price and doing comparisons, good luck. Trying to be successful on the cheapest price is a tough place to live in.

 

Thirdly, sales for the most part always has the numbers factor.  You can make the numbers work in your favor.

With the correct and precise market analysis, knowing the needs and wants of your market, and taking massive action, you can make the numbers work more in your favor.

In sales, massive action is one surefire way to increase your response and success rate. Take enough action and you will achieve more.

Fourth, know where your prospects are in the sales funnel. Deliver your commitments on time and over deliver. Your prospects may be evaluating you every step of the way. Make sure you have addressed all their needs and have provided the best solution.

Fifth, don’t be afraid and come out and ask for the sale. Lead your prospect with a series of yes answers to what you have delivered in the sales presentation that makes good sense for the prospect to buy.

Enhancing Your Life so You Can Enhance the Live of Others

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
www.akris.net
330-990-0788
ron@akris.net

 

Can you be Successful at Sales?

Anyone can be successful at sales provided you have the right behaviors and mind-set.

In 2003, Tim Connor published a book called Soft Selling.   In it, he compared how poor salespeople and successful salespeople managed their selling time differently.   He allocated the salesperson’s time into six major categories:

·   Prospecting

·   Sales Presentation

·   Service

·   Administration

·   Travel

·   Self-Improvement

 

He found that when it came to time management, poor salespeople allocated their time as follows:

·   10% on prospecting,

·   23% on sales presentation,

·   15% on service to others,

·   30% on administration,

·   20% on travel,

·   and a meager 2% on self-improvement.

 

These numbers are stunning at first glance if you believe and take Connor’s numbers seriously.

Note that only 10% of a salesperson’s time was being spent on prospecting and a whopping 30% of their time was being spent on administrative duties.    In other words, the salespeople who failed were spending more time managing their paperwork and administrative duties than managing or growing their sales pipeline.

 

10% of a poor salesperson’s time was being spent on prospecting.  It’s no wonder their sales were falling short of their expectations and their sales pipeline remained empty. They were spending more time on paperwork and presentations when they should have been out looking for new suspects to qualify. Contrast these numbers with how well successful people managed their time when it came to selling.  Connor found that good salespeople spent their time as follows:

·   45% on prospecting for new business,

·   10% on their sales presentation,

·   20% on service to others,

·   5% on administration,

·   10% on travel,

·   And 10% on self-improvement.

If you want to learn how to get better at sales and be seen as a partner to your customers check out Collaborative Selling. To learn more go to www.akris.net 

 

Sincerely,

Ron Finklestein
Business Growth Facilitator
www.businessgrowthexperience.com  

 

 

“Observe everything as you walk your path (in life).”

Akita Mani Yo.

Robert Schepens, is part Native American and he often reminds me of the Native American saying “Akita Mani Yo.” This saying means “Observe everything as you walk your path (in life).”

Observing everything as we walk our path is hard to do. It requires both internal and external awareness.

Internal is defined a our reactions, feeling and emotions and external our environment, others and our ecology (relationships.) It requires seeing things we often pay no attention to.

It requires us to understand our life and the meaning of our life as defined by the contrast between ourselves and others. This contrast is what is observed. In this contrast lie the secrets we miss, the lost loves, the beautiful flowers that we ignore, the pain we inadvertently inflicted and the joy others experience. This observing shows us the pains of others that we missed, the opportunities lost, that opportunities missed, the opportunities we gained. It shows the joys that passed us by.

In NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) this is referred to as “Our perception is our reflection.” Stated another way, what we see and perceive is what we notice and what we reflected back to others.

If things are not what you want, shift your attention to notice the things you do want. What more customers? Shift your attention to being grateful for your existing customers. Want more love in your life, be a more loving person. Want more friends, be a better friend. Remember to Akita Mani Yo.

Ron Finklestein
Someone who is learning to be a better student.

ron@akris.net

330-990-0788

 

 

 

 

Do you take Ownership for Your Situation?

Do you take Ownership for Your Situation?

In a Business Growth Experience meeting we discussed how to identify high potential individuals. One trait that surface over and over was ownership – specifically taking ownership of a given situation.

It was suggested people who lack ownership used words like: I should, I must, I had no choice, I had to, and other made me do it. The stories they tell are other focused: they did this, you should hear what happened to me, etc. Excuses are a big part of their lives. It is always someone else’s fault.

People who embraced ownership used words like: I choose, it was my responsibility, I decided, and the stories they tell are focused on “I.” They ask questions like “why am I…?”, “in what ways can I…? ,“ why did I fail to communicate effectively with…?”, “how can I do things better?”, and “how can I change this situation?

Which side of the equation do you live on? Do you take ownership for your life, business, results, and relationships?

If you do not own your situation how can you change it? What kind of person do you want to become? What kind of person do you want to hang out with? Remember, there is no partial ownership. It is not like owning a time share. You either own  it or you don’t.

Ron Finklestein

ron@ronfinklestein.com
330-990-0788

www.ronfinklestein.com

To receive these posts directly please go to www.businessgrowthexperience.com and sign up for the free eBook, “Six Questions Your Prospects want Answered before the Buy.” You will then be added to the email list.

To receive great business training at an even better price please check out www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com

 

The New Marketing Strategy Guaranteed to Work

The New Marketing Strategy Guaranteed to Work

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development.

Marketing is designed to persuade you to take a specific action (call now, space is limited), or not do something (don’t throw that away, recycle it).

People have become cynical. Marketing has become so sophisticated that people feel tricked into doing something only to find the product or service did not perform as stated or expected. We are inundated with thousands of marketing message daily from people trying to part us from our time, energy and money.

What’s a marketer (business owner) to do? I have new and powerful marketing technique that is guaranteed to work. What is it you ask?

It is quite powerful. You simply market your products and services with Integrity. Integrity is defined as adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.”

Wouldn’t it be great when we encountered someone selling a product or service that interested us that we felt we could trust the person or company? That we could have an open dialog; that the message was to be consistent and had integrity. The honesty was there.

There are six questions your prospects wants answered before they buy. You can download the report at http://www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com. This report will help you communicate your message with honesty and integrity.

This message was prompted by a bad experience I had will my bank. I should say my old bank – I just left them. Here is what happened. I received my home equity line statement from my bank and the bank demanded the loan be paid in full. We are not talking about a small about of money. I called customer service to see what was going on. I was told my house was in the collections and foreclosure process, I could do nothing to stop it, and no one I could call. The process must run its course. They told me I was late 30 times (BTW, I was never late.) When I suggested they made an error, I was told I was lying.

I spent hundreds of hours trying to solve this (as a small business owner this time away from my business was quite painful) finding the right people to talk too, feeling really stressed out and helpless because of the stress it put on my family, only to find out they made a mistake. My house was not in foreclosure, it was not in collections, and all was fine.  I did not get so much as a letter of apology. I think they were afraid I would sue. Don’t worry, I am not that kind of person. The letter I did get, saying my credit was not damaged,  did not have a signature. The collection letters I received that had a phone number would not return my calls. I was even told they called me and I know they did not because I have just one phone I use for all call and the call log does not lie.

While I am going through all this I see the banks’ commercials on TV about how easy this bank is to work with, how much they care about their customers and how responsive they are to their customers’ needs. I was quite angry that there was a total and complete disconnect between their message and their actions. At this time, I should point out that I had been with this bank over 30 years. I am in process of changing banks. I paid off the loan in questions, and I am creating an arm’s length relationship with my new bank.

Contrast that with the city where I now live. They put in a new sanitation line on my property that caused all kinds of water  problems in my yard. It has been a slow process but they are taking ownership and fixing the problem at their expense and the investment they are making is not insignificant.

Problems will happen. It is how you handle the problem that is important. Which organization was more in integrity with their customers? Is your message congruent with your organization’s action?  Do you deliver what you say you will deliver? Is your marketing message consistent with your company’s actions? All people want is to be treated fairly and honestly. Do you allow people in your organization to do that?

Do you handle your customer problem with integrity? Do you handle your sales with integrity? Do you live your life with integrity? Do you market with Integrity? Are you seeing a theme here? Being in Integrity is all that you do and be? The true disconnect is when your actions are not consistent with your words.

Ron Finklestein

Http://www.businessgrowthexperience.com
ron@akris.net
330-990-0788

The Power of Focus. The New Way to Get Results

One of the biggest problems I see with small business owners is that they chase the money. When you chase the money, you lose focus, and people do not know what you stand for.

Focus is principle number 6 of my Nine Principles for Inspired Action.

After working with a client in the Business Growth Experience and suggesting she gets focused, I received the following email less tha a week later.

“I also want to give you some feedback on a suggestion you made for me in the last Business Growth Experience meeting. We discussed just focusing on 3 types of businesses. Well I’m getting more referrals for those types of businesses. I’m truly amazed. I’ve received about 10 referrals between cleaning, insurance, and real estate in the last week. Thank you.”

Stop chasing the money. Get focused on your customer. The money will come.

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com
ron@businessgrowthexperience.com

 

 

Ten Time Wasting, Productivity Stealing, Resulting Robbing Excuses that Make Life Hard.

Ten Time Wasting, Productivity Stealing, Resulting Robbing Excuses that Make Life Hard.

As a business coach I work with people who could improve their results and productivity by making simple yet powerful changes in their approach to decision making. If you are not achieving your desired results, here are ten possible reasons why.   As you read, think about what you are doing and why you are doing it. The biggest reason productivity suffers is because of poor decision making. This wastes time and valuable resources. Time is wasted when we confuse activity with accomplishment. Activity is purposeless action. Accomplishment is purposeful action that leads to the results you want.

Getting clear on what is important and focusing on those activities will increase your productivity, save you time, and simplify your life. Take a look at these 10 time wasting, productivity robbing, and frustrating actions people take. How many of these apply to you?

  1. Not staying focused. Stay focused on what is important and ignoring any other opportunity that comes along will increase productivity. Jumping from activity to activity will ruin your productivity!
  2. Stop Multi-Tasking. You cannot focus and do multiple things well. Your productivity suffers. You think you got a lot done but none are done well and you would have completed more had you stayed focused. Studies show that focused activities allows you accomplish more.
  3. If you are a business owner do not discount your product. You are not the Banker. On more than one occasion I wanted to help someone so I gave them some help by discounting my product. The ones that I offered this help to were the ones who valued it the least, who took the most time and accomplished the least.
  4. You do not need to be an expert. People will be confused if you explain every detail. They really want to know why it works not how it works. It helps with your confidence level to know this info but you do not have to tell everyone unless they ask. Do not spend time trying to figure out every nuance of your product. Just go do what you have to do. If someone asks you a question you cannot answer, tell them you will find out and set a date and time when you will get back with them.
  5. Stop waiting for your family’s approval. They want you safe and many time what you want, they see as risky. It is your life. Live it by your rules not theirs! Decide. Take action.
  6. Stop going to networking events. Spend your time where your prospects are, not where it is safe. Most people you meet at networking events want to sell you their product. That is why they are there. I cut way back on my networking because the same people show up. They were becoming more like reunions.
  7. Avoid the tire kicker. They want to tell the world they tried everything when in reality they will suck you dry and never take action. Do not waste your energy on tire kickers. On the flip side, work with people who are where you want to be. Be open and coachable. This will shorten your time to success.
  8. Why do you do what you do? To be truly successful, spend as much time working on you as you do on your business. Results happen when you change what you do. The best way to change what you do is to change how you think. This could be learning new things, taking different actions, and being exposed to people who think differently than you do.
  9. Stop believing the wrong thing. It is not skills that hold us back but our beliefs. Anyone can learn anything, assuming they have the desire and interest. I cannot tell you how many audio programs I listened to and did not implement what I learned. I would then listen to the same program 10 years later and wonder why I did not trust (believe, implement, execute, etc) what I first learned. I think of all the time I wasted.
  10. Do not believe your limitations. Those limitations are things you learned as a child and you do not have to have the same beliefs now. It is not your fault if you are not happy with your life as it exists today but you are responsible and you can change it. As Michelangelo once said, “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” Aim High  and take purposeful action

 

Call today for a free consultation. I can be reached at 330-990-0788

Ron Finklestein

Business Coach

ron@businessgrowthexperience.com
http://www.aboutbusinesssuccess.com