San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching

Nine Socially Intelligent Sales Secrets

9 Sales Tips for Tough Economic Times

It’s no new news that we are in a difficult business climate that requires making connections and building relationships more important than ever. We buy from people we know, like and trust.

Right know and for the foreseeable future, we are experiencing a business climate where people and organizations are holding on to their wallets. There is a psychological and behavioral contracting effect due to uncertainty about the future.

So marketing and making sales is more important than ever. However, the problem is that the old way of making sales by pressuring potential customers into buying may actually help you lose the sale and have unintended dire consequences.I will give you a personal example of my attempt to buy a car where the salesperson lost a potential sale by following a prepared script. She focused on her interests and not mine.

I recently visited the local Honda Dealer with my wife and son. I had done quite a bit of research on the new CRV and wanted to test drive the vehicle and get my wife and son’s thoughts about the car. I told the saleswoman that I had no intention to buy a car that day. I had just started looking.

After the salesperson made a copy of my license which already made me a little uneasy, we all got into the car and took a test drive. I asked the salesperson a number of questions about the car and was given answers I knew not to be true. After the test drive, I honestly just wanted to leave. The salesperson insisted that we go back into the dealership and proceeded to try and make a deal. I assertively reiterated that I was not interested in buying a car and we left. Over the next few weeks, my wife and I got several calls from the salesperson. It was such a negative experience that I’m still driving my old Toyota Camry!

We all need to market and create sales especially in this tough economy. However, there is a much better way by asking permission and establishing a relationship first.

Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall in “The Contrarian Effect” offer nine contrarian principles to help you change your mindsets about sales.

1.  Build relationships and make connections
2.  Respect your customers and honor their wishes.
3.  Target specific groups of individuals and your ideal clients.
4.  Make relevant and timely offers.
5.  Increase your “likeability factor”.
6.  Practice radical transparency.
7.  Establish yourself as a trusted advisor.
8.  Collaborate with strategic partners to leverage your efforts.
9.  Think bigger about who you are and what you offer your clients.

In fact, Michael Port has started a “Think Big Revolution” to help you serve your customers and clients.

Suzi Pomerantz in “Seal the Deal!” talks about reframing your belief system so that sales and business development are more about partnership and service than interrupting and bothering customers to buy your stuff. Sales is more about creating mindsets about authenticity, meaning and values, and creating relationships than merely making short-term numbers for personal gain.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership and sales assessments such as the BarOn EQi, CPI 260 and Sales Max can help you avert conventional sales wisdom and do the opposite.  It’s more of a coach approach to help sales entrepreneurs ask permission and focus intently on the needs of the customer. You can become a more emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent at making sales, by first listening and paying attention before you and your buyer collaborate to seal the deal.

I’m currently accepting new executive coaching and career coaching clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. I promise to pay attention and listen to your needs. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to [email protected].

Marketing Mindset: Essential Skills to Attract Your Ideal Clients

Freud basically summed life up as love and work. Well, these days it is so important to be passionate about your work and love what you do. Marketing then becomes effortless because you integrate it into everything you do. You connect with people and have conversations about what matters most to them. I believe that's why we are seeing an explosion of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Ning and numerous other very targeted niche communities. The idea that we are all connected is becoming more real for people and certainly business.

For example:  I have been talking with my law and accounting firm clients about creating their own blogs
to connect with potential clients. Lawyers usually love to write and express their opinions. They are usually not shy about giving and getting feedback. Accountants can find blogging a fairly non-threating way to express themselves translating into better interpersonal communication skills and improved client relationships.

The following are ten competencies I have found to be especially important when developing a new mindset or story that marketing is about building relationships and serving clients to improve their condition. 

Marketing Mindset: Top Ten Reasons Professionals Hate To Market

Marketing is anything that puts you in front of a potential client that you want to do business with. Marketing gets you there. Selling is what you do to convert a prospect into a client.

There is a lot of psychology to marketing. Think of marketing as providing potential clients valuable information that will help improve their lives and business. If you think of marketing as getting the attention of potential clients and providing great value to help improve their condition it can get you energized.

Remember that the first sale is to yourself. Look in the mirror and get yourself into a physical, emotional and yes even spiritual state were you see yourself providing tremendous benefit to potential clients and they are thrilled to work with you. It's a lot about building confidence and trust and sharing yourself so you really don't need to "sell".

The following are typcial reasons professionals hate to market. Fee free to comment or add your own negative thoughts about marketing.

Marketing Mindset: Top Ten Marketing Tips

Regardless of what business you are in you have to be able to develop business or you won't be in business. I work a great deal with lawyers and accountants as a coach and consultant.  I frequently hear from my clients that they don't like to do marketing or that it should be someone else's job. They just want to provide excellent legal or accounting services and find marketing at best a chore.

The days when you can ignore marketing is long over. You don't necessarily have to be a "rain maker".
Some people just have this natural gift and love bringing in new business. I personally find marketing exciting and fun because I primarily see it as developing relationships which is a strength of mine. You can focus on one of your strengths such as writing or speaking and learn that marketing is something you have enjoyed all along but just need to think about it differently.

Marketing Mindset: How to Become a Marketing Maven

Targeted niche marketing is often difficult for professionals in a variety of business concerns. You can learn to change your story about marketing from struggle to optimism, passion and flow.

Many professionals find marketing their business a struggle because of four main reasons: 1. They don't have how to information on marketing; 2. They don't get feedback on their marketing strategies by trying them out in the real world and getting counsel from other professionals; 3. They don't invest in marketing training; and 4. They have a negative mindset and are their own worst enemy.  However, the good news is that the necessary skills can be learned and often result in fun and profitable business ventures.

There a number of ways to build your confidence resulting in your getting the attention of prospects, creating visibibilty, adding value, and generating ideal clients.