The 5 Keys to Success

Do you want to know what lies behind pretty much every business success story? Look closely at any successful business, project, campaign, launch…you name it…there are just 5 key steps at play. I call them…The 5 Keys to Success 

The “5 Keys” is a template you can use anywhere, anytime, to help with anything from developing a company strategy, a sales visit to a networking event and all points in between. I use it virtually everyday – and I highly recommend it.

The 5 Keys
 
Step 1 – Know your outcome
You must know your target. Decide what you want – and be as specific as possible. This tells your brain exactly what you’re expecting, encouraging your unconscious mind to focus on it. It isn’t enough to have vague goals like ‘I want to be wealthy’ or ‘I want more sales’. Being clear about exactly what you want will make it easier for you to know when you’ve achieved it. State your goals in the positive for example ‘I want £ x in sales by the end of this month’.

Step 2 – Take action
The biggest barrier to success is not taking action. It’s obvious yet it is the step most often neglected. Take action. Do anything to create some momentum. If you find yourself procrastinating – ask yourself ‘what’s the benefit of staying exactly where I am’.  By exploring your thoughts, you’ll be able to identify your own reasons that justify doing nothing. So do something…anything…that takes you a step closer to what you want. Click here for my recent blog on eliminating procrastination. 

Step 3 – Be aware
Notice. Be curious. Notice the impact of the actions you’ve taken. What’s going well? What’s not?  Measuring the impact of your actions will tell you what’s working and what is not. How are things going compared with your projection? Feedback is information is power, if you use it. What are you doing with all this feedback coming in?

Step 4 – Be flexible
If what you’re doing isn’t working – do something else. How flexible can you be? Keep trying different things until you start getting the results you want. Remember to keep focussing on what you want. Remember that that you have to do what works for your customers…and not you! This doesn’t mean compromising on your own values or ethics. It’s about you understanding other people’s perspectives…you don’t always have to agree with them.

Step 5 – Rapport
It’s absolutely critical to establish and maintain rapport with others throughout the process.  When things are going well and you’re relating to someone instinctively, then everything is fine and you have no problem.
When there is a lack of rapport the situation becomes more challenging.
Developing your rapport building skills will enhance and support the other keys to your sales success.
   
So simple – and massively effective!
You can use this template as a forward planning technique…or you can use it retrospectively if you’re looking to reflect how something went, for example  “Did we set our outcome correctly” “Were those the right actions” “ What did we notice” and so on.
Honestly, it really is that simple. Keep these 5 keys in front of you until they become habit – and notice how you become more structured, more proactive…and much more successful.

And…

Before I go I’d like to draw your attention to an upcoming webinar (Monday 24th June) which will be well worth tuning into. It’s all about how to build more trust in your organisation. Fascinating stuff! – Here are the details… 

Until next time.

Leigh

Leigh really wants you to succeed!

PS; Attend This Free Interview With Stephen M R Covey And Discover How You Can Quickly Measure and Build More Trust In Your Organisation!

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous ‘Tricks of the Trade’ go here

Another "P" word you must avoid

Last week I received a fantastic response to my thoughts on Procrastination and the negative impact procrastination can have on your sales success, your business – and life in general.
Defeating procrastination will make it much easier for you to get started on those tasks, projects and general ‘stuff’ you've been putting off.

BUT...what about those jobs and other things you do where you can’t seem to STOP? 

Another ‘P’ please!

Perfectionism! How guilty are you? Where does your perfectionist streak negatively impact on your results? Why, when you see the light at the end of your tunnel, do you insist on going out and building more tunnel?

If you ‘suffer’ from perfectionism, be under no illusion that it really will be holding you back just as much as last week’s theme, procrastination.

Where does perfectionism come from?

Perfection comes with a heady brew of potential causes. If you’re a perfectionist then you’re probably an ‘all or nothing’ person, who believes something is worthless if it’s not perfect. The word ‘should’ probably dominates your world. You’ll have a long list of shoulds which form the rules for how to live your life. Fear of failure could be right up there too, alongside fear of making mistakes. Fear of disapproval too rears its head too, because perfection is a way of warding off disapproval, rejection and criticism.

Finally, perfectionists often think that others achieve success easily and with a minimum of effort, whilst they see their own efforts as unending and forever inadequate.

Ring any bells?

Conquering perfectionism

The first thing is to accept that perfectionism is an illusion that is unattainable. There – I’ve said it! In any case remember that if you have perfectionist tendencies, your 80% is probably everyone else’s 100%.

Here are a few tips to try...

1) Make sure your goals are reachable – and based on your wants and needs.

2) When you start to feel anxious about the terms you’ve set for the task in hand, ask yourself...”Have I set up impossible expectations for myself in this situation?”

3) Experiment with your standards for success. On a given activity, instead of aiming for 100%, try for 90%, 80%. You’ll soon find out that the world does not end when you are not perfect.

4) Confront perfectionism head on. Ask yourself “What am I afraid of?” and “What is the worst thing that could happen?” Be honest.

5) Accept that many positive things are learned only by making mistakes. When you make a mistake ask yourself “What can I learn here?” – and make a list of your answers.

6) Restructure your goals away from the ‘all or nothing’ mentality. Prioritise them – and on the less important goals, put in less effort.

Perfection according to whom?

Seeking excellence is one thing; never finding anything totally satisfactory is another. It may serve you better to decide that a particular project or undertaking is complete. At some point you've got to say, "This is good. This is enough." 

If you cannot do this, you will never get anything done - and that is the opposite of what you want.

If these words have struck a chord with you, make today the day you change.

Contact me by email if you have any more questions or comments on perfectionism.

Until next time.

 

Leigh

PS; Click here if you hate coming across as "too salesy"

results@sales-consultancy.com

 

020 7903 5426

 

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

Beware of the 'P' word

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Today I entered ‘time management courses’ into Google. It produced “about 200,000,000 results” in 0.29 seconds.
And yet time management courses are often a waste of time. Why? Because you know what to do. You know when you should be doing it. If you’re not doing it, I’d reckon it’s not about time management at all – It’s down to that ‘P’ word.

Procrastination.

Procrastination – and its twin brother 'Indecision' will tie you to the failure treadmill for all time if you don’t sort it! Without decisions - and ACTION to back up those decisions, you will never get the results you want.

Do you procrastinate?

Do you procrastinate? What is it costing you? If you could eliminate it, how great would that be in terms of your job, your business, your wealth, your life?

If you’re procrastinating about ANYTHING, do the exercise below. It could change everything!

First, here are some pointers before you start...
- Find yourself a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.

- Give yourself plenty of time to answer all the questions.

- You may feel pretty uncomfortable (I hope so) when considering the consequences of not making a change.

- You will feel completely inspired by the end of it.
- Crucially – DO THE EXERCISE! For goodness sake don’t procrastinate on the procrastination exercise!!!

Are you ready to commit to action? Go for it...

1.    Write down one thing you are not following through on

2.    Come up with ten reasons why you absolutely must change this now

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

3.    What will it cost you if you don’t make this change?

4.    What will you gain from this change?

5.    Why do you know you can absolutely make this change?

6.    Create a new association with this change.

Make it perfect for you! Example...if you’re not making enough calls you may have an association that not making calls equals less rejection...a new association might be that making more calls equals more chances to develop relationships that generate more sales success and all the kudos that comes with it.

This is really important. You must create a new association. Don’t proceed until you have created at least one!

7.    What is your first action that you can do immediately?

Congratulations!

Congratulations! Go and do your first action right now...

This exercise will really get you in touch with the motivation to take ACTION towards what you want.

Another example of The Psychology of Sales.

Let me know how you get on.

Until next time.

Leigh

PS; Click here if you have a fear ofselling.

results@sales-consultancy.com

 

020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous ‘Tricks of the Trade’ go here

 

Referrals: Are you asking?

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Of your most satisfied customers of 2013, how many of those customers have you asked for a referral?

Most sales and business people never ask for referrals. Those that do often ask when it’s too late - and make a fatal mistake when asking for them (more on that later). Yet referrals are just about the easiest, quickest and least expensive way of increasing sales and building your business.

But you must ask!

Most businesses never ask for referrals – ever. Maybe this is because they think asking for a referral is too close to ‘selling’. If you’re nervous about asking for a referral, remember that people usually like to tell others about good things that have happened to them, so why wouldn’t they want to share how great you are with their friends or colleagues?

Secondly, if you’re good at what you do, how sad would it be if you weren’t able to help more people and businesses simply because you were shy about asking for referrals?

Ask early

Don’t wait until after you’ve finished what you were hired for. On no account should you ask a few weeks later either. In both situations ‘the moment’ has already passed. You may indeed have done a brilliant job, but memories fade fast and it's likely you won’t be as well thought of after a lapse of time.

The time to ask is as soon as the customer is starting to get results. They will often be at their happiest fairly early into your work with them. That’s the prime time to ask for a referral. So pick a time when they are massively enthusiastic – and dive in!

Asking for referrals (the fatal error)

 “Do you know anyone who would be interested in having similar work done?” 

What’s wrong with this question? Well if you have been on any of my training courses you will already be shouting out “It’s a closed question”!!!. Correct. You can only have two answers to that question – yes, or no. And it’s more likely to be a no because that’s the easier answer to give – you’ll have directed their brain into shutdown mode.

So the question to ask (ensuring you have excellent levels of rapport beforehand) is ...”Who else do you know that would be interested in achieving the sort of results you’re getting”. Although I changed the end of the question a little, the main difference is the “who else” bit at the start. This takes the customer’s brain down a whole different pathway. Instead of encouraging their brain to shut up shop, you’ve opened up the ‘search’ facility in their mind and they will therefore unconsciously search much more intently for a worthwhile answer. A subtle but crucial change.

Get them to introduce you

So it’s all gone swimmingly so far. You’re doing a great job. You’ve asked the perfectly worded question – and your customer has thought of someone who you could help. In a perfect world they will contact your next potential customer initially. Ask them to do that for you. It’s so much better if, when you contact the new customer, they’re already expecting your call.

Offer a reward

If you can, why not thank your customer with flowers, or maybe a bottle of bubbly, even just a thank you card? That shows how much you appreciate their help – and might just nudge them into introducing you to someone else!

So who can you ask in the next few days?

Until next time.

Leigh

 

PS; Click here if you have a fear of selling.

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here