Dale Carnegie Training Sales and Public Speaking Techniques

Control Internal Conflicts With Email

2011-04-11T15:23:00.002-04:00

I had an interesting experience when I started working in technical support.

In one instance, a customer had contacted me for some technical advice on repairing their system. It was nothing major. Their system had experienced some downtime and the local tech team had repaired the system.

However, they were looking for additional ideas on how to address the cause of the problem and prevent future downtime. So they sent me an email asking for my input.

I emailed a response to the customer, providing him with some ideas based on my experience with some of the systems I had in my territory. I also copied the person responsible for technical support in the customer's territory as well as the application engineer, the technical lead responsible for all site activity and the technical liaison between the account manager and the customer.

I didn't think much of the interaction until I received a copy of my email message from the application engineer along with his message, lambasting me for getting involved. According to him, the correct way to handle the situation was to forward the request to him and let him address it.

The challenge I had with his course of action was that the customer had attempted to contact him several times regarding their questions and had failed to get a response each time. That's why they sent the question to me.

Instead of immediately sending him an email aggressively defending my actions and pointing out that he should have initially responded to the customer, I stopped and let his email "rest" for a while.

It gave me time to see things from his perspective as well as from the customer's perspective. It gave me time to understand that we both wanted the same thing where the customer was concerned. And it gave me time to decide on the direction and outcome of the conversation.

I then composed a message essentially stating I was sorry and that I didn't mean for the situation to turn out that way. I explained that my main concern was for the customer, to insure that they had a good impression of the company, and that they had correct and timely information that would allow them to continue to use our equipment. I then stated that I was sorry about the misunderstanding again, and I supplied my contact information if he needed my assistance in the future.

I then sent the email message along with the entire email trail off to him, and I copied myself and my manager.

I didn't get a response from the application engineer.

I did, however, get a response from my manager who commented, "This is an extremely well written email! Where did you learn to do that?"

By taking some time to think about my response, I was able to create an email that defused the situation, I had picked up some recognition from my manager, and I had supplied a response to the client that maintained our credibility.

Later, in one of my long road trips with my manager down the Oregon coast from the airport to a customer site, he told me his impression of managers and management. He said that good managers aren't the people that have been assigned by the executives or sport a title. He said that good managers are good at managing themselves, responding to situations instead of reacting to them.

When answering email, take the position that everyone is your customer. Respond to their message instead of reacting to it. Quickly design the outcome you want and the direction you want to take the relationship before responding to a message and your customers will appreciate the effort.

To find more ideas on dealing with all types of customer situations, check out the tips from the Dale Carnegie Training site.

How To Get Control Of Your Meeting

2011-03-09T00:08:00.000-05:00

In a recent meeting I attended at the Cavaliers, Lance Tyson was reviewing a few leadership ideas with the organization's management team.

There were about 12 people initially in the room for the upper leadership meeting, and after they finished up, the doors opened up to let the rest of the management team in. There was a 10 minute period of time when people were milling about and talking shop until Lance said, “OK. We're gonna start in about 5 minutes so finish up.”

I had an urge to run to the restroom, but I knew it would take me more than 5 minutes to run down to the restroom, do what I had to do, wash up, and run back to the conference room. And I remembered how we handled our early sales meetings before the age of the prolific conference call. If you weren't in the room when the meeting started, you were left out in the hall banging on a locked door.

And today was no different.

The second the 5 minutes were up, the doors closed and you couldn't get in from the outside.

And then we started the meeting.

Right at the start, Lance began with the house rules. One of those rules dealt with interruptions coming from everyone's personal hand toys. If a blackberry buzzed, the price was one dollar. If someone got caught thumbing through emails, the price was five bucks! And everyone selected one individual, someone everyone trusted in the group, to be the banker.

Then Lance did something strange. He reached into his wallet, pulled out a 5 dollar bill, and handed it to the banker. He said, “I don't plan on creating any interruptions, but if I can put up 5 bucks before the meeting starts, I think everyone can 'man up and put up' if they create an interruption”.

At that point, everyone turned their phones off, put them away, and we got down to business.

It was harsh, but the meeting wasn't interrupted by a buzz or a ring, and everyone's attention was focused on the topic at hand.

Charging people for ringing cellphones and locking the doors 2 seconds after the appointed time isn't for every meeting. However, if you have people rushing into the meeting 10 minutes late, you might want to try locking the door for a few meetings to encourage your chronically late team members to make it on time and to let everyone know that you are serious about not wasting everyone's time.

For more ideas on effectively running your meetings, review these 10 tips from the Dale Carnegie Knowledge Center.

Team Presentations For Sales Success

2011-02-20T18:20:00.000-05:00

Back when I was in tech sales, one of the activities that we had to perform was the team sales presentation.

This meant that at least once during the sales process, the sales rep and the presales engineer had to work as a team and make a joint sales presentation.

One piece of that presentation that required some coordination and work was the transition between speakers.

Like a pair of runners in a relay race, when we had a good handoff between the speaker and the presales engineer, we kept the presentation on target and moving forward seamlessly. When we had a poor handoff, however, the presentation ended up loosing momentum and gave our prospects the impression that we didn't know what they were doing. We didn't have control of the process.

Here's a simple tip to keep your team sales presentation moving forward seamlessly and in control.

Have the next speaker immediately just off center stage and ready to come up at the right time. This will minimize the uncontrolled, "dead air" time between speakers when you run the greatest risk of losing your group's attention.

As you can imagine, waiting for the next speaker to make their way from the back of the room to the front makes the entire sales group look unprepared.

However, if the next presenter is just off center stage and ready to go, then both presenters will give the impression that they know what they are doing and are in total control.

For additional tips on presenting as a team, see the Dale Carnegie article on conducting a team presentation.

30 Prospecting Ideas For Your Cold Calling Campaigns

2011-02-17T01:58:00.000-05:00

During a conversation I had with one of my past sales mentor's, he described his first sales experience back in the early 80's. He said that he was seated at a desk with a phone, given a copy of the yellow pages, and was told to start making cold calls.

No one sat down with him to coach him, there was no established cold calling process in place, and no one told him about his target clients or laid out a profile of his target market. All he had was a landline, a copy of the Yellow Pages for the city, and his good looks. He started making cold calls relying only on the communication skills built from his everyday life experiences.

Forget for the moment that most of us rely on home grown communication skills, the stuff we learned in grade school, high school, and at home. Not the skills we learn when we have the opportunity to enroll in a program with a skilled communications coach. We'll come back to that in another post.

Let's stick with the phone book concept. Back then, the primary, and easiest source for leads was the Yellow Pages and sales reps relied on their “gift of gab” to engage potential clients during their cold calls campaigns – which really were cold.

However, even back then there were other sources for acquiring leads that required a little more activity and involvement.

In today's constantly connected world, the phone book may be on the brink of becoming the next extinct dinosaur as everyone migrates over to using the web with their smart phones, notepads, mobile computing devices, and of course, Google Voice to find what they need.

The other sources, however, continue to offer viable supplements to our online activities, at least for now.

Activities like hosting a seminar or leveraging the power of your business cards still work. In fact, in one seminar I recently attended, the speaker had a very interesting and unique business card made out of a lightweight metal.

The information on those business cards may change. It may highlight a Twitter handle over a FAX number. But you can still distribute your business cards at any networking event you choose to attend, sponsor, host, and especially those you choose to be a guest speaker.

And as for the phone book, well now you can find even more information using your web browser and Google, Bing, and Yahoo!

You'll find 30 other tips for creative sales prospecting here on the dcarnegietraining site.

Good Hunting.

Social Networks Reflect Dale Carnegie Principles

2011-01-11T13:56:00.001-05:00

LinkedIn. Twitter. Facebook.

If you want to get noticed in today's business environment, you need to have a presence and be active on these three social networks.

Sometimes, I hear that if you are networking using these social networks, you have to play by a different set of rules in order to be effective.

Well, I just came across some findings that would suggest otherwise.

Yes, the technology changes and allows us to do more, but the principles for human interaction are still the same.

If you are a terrible communicator in a face-to-face situation, jumping on a cell phone won't make you a stellar communicator. However, if you are a terrific communicator in a face-to-face situation, you still have to be mindful of the restrictions and capabilities of communicating over a cell phone to be effective.

The fact remains, however, that we are still communicating with people, which means that there are baseline principles that we need to consider.

Take this recent finding from Dan Zarrella.

Dan considers himself to be a social media scientist. He makes observations and collects data from the various social networks, notices trends and publishes them on his blog.

One of his findings concerns negative and positive remarks a person makes on Twitter and Facebook and the impact it has on the number of people that follow them. The results are eye-opening, but not surprising. And they reflect Dale Carnegie's first principle, "Don't Criticize, Condemn or Complain".

You can read Dan Zarrella's post in it's entirety here and see the results for yourself.

Bottom line, if you want to increase your influence on the social networks, start with Dale Carnegie's first principle: Don't Criticize, Condemn or Complain and keep your comments supportive and informative.

Dale Carnegie Training New Linkedin Groups

2010-11-02T03:26:00.001-04:00

Guys,

As many of you know, Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana has undergone some recent changes. In Web 2.0 language, this typically means upgrades for improved performance and accessibility.

To meet the needs of the Ohio Valley Region, the several franchises that comprised our organization have been restructured to operate independently and serve the four greater metro areas surrounding Cleveland-Akron, Columbus-Dayton, Cincinnati-Covington and Indianapolis.

To accommodate these changes, we have also created several Linkedin groups to support each individual organization. If you want to find the latest updates on local classes, discover if a class has been postponed due to inclement weather, or you want to discuss the latest tips outlined in the last class, join the group in your metro area.

And feel free to join other groups to stay on top of what is happening in the other areas and share ideas, especially if you travel frequently between Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.

These groups are:

Dale Carnegie Training of NE Ohio

Dale Carnegie Training of Central Ohio

Dale Carnegie Training of Southern Ohio and KY

Dale Carnegie Training of Central Indiana

In addition to these four groups, I've also created an additional group that deals with Online Reputation Management. If you are in sales and you are looking for ways to manage your search profile, increasing your visibility to your market base, and creating a known profile for prospecting purposes, join this group, discover what other sales people are doing and leverage the latest ideas in reputation management.

Join Online Reputation Management For Sales People here:

Online Reputation Management For Sales People

As the other groups become more active, we'll focus more of our resources on supporting them.

After Thanksgiving, November 25, 2010, we'll start the process for retiring this group. We should be finished with Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana by the close of November, 30, 2010.

It's been a fun run during 2010 and next year will be even more exciting.

See you on the flip side.

Good Selling!

-Larry

Dale Carnegie On Generating Enthusiasm

2009-11-12T08:30:00.001-05:00

The small boy whistles merrily and loudly when he walks past the cemetery on a dark night in order to bolster up his courage. And generally he overcomes his fear of walking past cemeteries because he has "whistled" up his courage.

How many of us, when we're feeling down in the dumps, sing to make other people happy? And in acting happy, we suddenly discover that we're feeling happy.

This same principle applies to enthusiasm. If we simulate animation and excitement for our work or the talk we are going to make, we will usually find that we've "simulated" ourselves right into the middle of the kind of emotional drive we're seeking.

from the writings of Dale Carnegie in Dale Carnegie’s Scrapbook

5 tips From Dale Carnegie on Boosting Courage

2009-11-10T13:48:00.003-05:00

Would you like to have more courage? Here are five short rules, which, if you will follow them, I guarantee will increase your store of fortitude.

Act as if you were courageous. This makes you a bit braver as if one side of yourself had been challenges and wished to show it was not wholly afraid.

Pause to reflect that others have had to face great discouragements and great obstacles and have overcome them. And what others have done, surely you can do.

Remember that your life forces move in a sort of rhythm and that if you feel depressed and without the power to face life you may be at the bottom of the trough; if you will keep up your courage, you will probably swing out of it by the very forces which at the moment are sucking you down.

Remember you feel more defeated and downcast at night than during the daylight hours. Courage comes with the sun.

Courage is the measure of a big soul. Try to measure up.

from the writings of Dale Carnegie in Dale Carnegie’s Scrapbook

What Is The Secret To Selling In A Tight Economy?

2009-10-14T02:50:00.008-04:00

OK gang. Keep your voices down 'cause I'm going rogue.

We know that the economy has been very tight - tight as in a very difficult and troubling time, not tight as in "That Silver Mustang I checked out yesterday is Tight!"

When the economy is tight, your clients and prospects get tight-fisted. They hold onto every penny and review all expenditures. Sales people all over are finding this very challenging time, in part because of this corporate tight-fistedness. But they are also having a difficult time selling because they are still using methods they learned when the economy was Tight in a good way.

Now when you have an economy that is Tight and everything is working really well, business owners are less tight-fisted. They are governed by a possibility mindset, and you use a certain set of sales skills and tactics to close business.

Selling to them in this environment is just a whole lot easier overall.

However, when the economy is tight, like it is now, your prospects are governed by a different mindset. They don't have a possibilities mindset; they are looking for ways to survive.

As a result, sales people are hit with a Perfect Storm of bad economic luck. Owners of businesses are tight fisted and sales people are selling with the methods that they developed when the economy was working well. All of this is a recipe for slow sales, frustrated sales people and disappointed sales managers who are not making their revenue projections.

If you are a sales person, what do you do to effectively navigate this Perfect Economic Storm that we are currently facing?

You go find yourself some Tight coaching from a professional sales coach.

You find someone who has sold through tough economic times as well as when the economy was humming right along. You find someone who can provide you with some fresh ideas on how to get through to decision-makers that are saving themselves time by using technology to block out poorly trained sales people. You talk to a sales coach to discover ways to move more prospects through the sales pipeline and turn them into paying clients using both traditional and cutting edge sales tools. You find someone who can provide you with an unvarnished look at yourself and at what you are currently doing so that you can get to the next level in the sales game.

And while finding and leveraging such a coach will involve a serious investment in time and money, you can get a jumpstart on the process in as little as 16 hours over a 2-day span at a very, very Tight price.

Imagine, having access to your own coach who can provide you with ideas on what is currently happening in the world of sales today, right now. Imagine working in a sales lab where you get to experiment and test some of the latest innovations in sales technology in addition getting comfortable with the basic principles of communication and human interaction.

In this two day, sixteen hour sales lab, you will:

Learn what it really takes to build rapport with your prospect.

Identify the hurdles of modern day cold calling and leverage them to your advantage.

Identify 4 classes of questions that will channel your prospect's attention where you want it.

Identify, expand and bridge the needs gap that will have your prospect begging you to solve their problem.

Leverage nine principles to help you get past the "gatekeeper" and turn them into an ally and a valuable source of information.

Discover 5 levels of listening and why you don't want to be at level one, two or three.

Learn a 6 step strategy for quickly determining the nature of an objection and if you should address it at all.

A three-point method of creating a solution that will have your prospect demanding you for more.

Here at Dale Carnegie Training, we are no stranger to tight economies or prosperous ones. Dale Carnegie Training has been around for almost 100 years and we've seen some pretty hard times as well as some pretty highflying times. The methodology that we have pioneered has flourished because it adapts to and leverages the conditions of the times while maintaining its foundation on human principles of communication and interaction. We never stop growing.

And neither should you.

Now, here's the rogue part.

Connect with me on Twitter by logging in and either running a search on larryprevost or go up to the "Find People" tab and searching for larryprevost.

When you find me, hit the follow button to follow me. Then, in the "What are you doing?" box, type in "@larryprevost That Mustang is Tight!"

I'll get the message, connect with you and direct message you a code that you can use to register for the lab class. But you have to follow me. Otherwise I won't be able to send you a direct message.

We can't give you a Mustang, but we can give you a discount and this code will let you call in and register at a hefty discount off the regular price.

But connect up before 4:00 today (Oct 14, 2009).

Because you know we can't do this all day!

Program Number: CS164

Program Date: Oct 15 and Oct 16 (Thursday and Friday)

Program Time: 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM

Program Location: Corporate College - Cleveland Western Campus

Dale Carnegie Conducts World Class Customer Service for Defense Commissary

2009-10-07T01:41:00.005-04:00

DALE CARNEGIE TRAINING® AWARDED DEFENSE COMMISSARY AGENCY CONTRACT TO TRAIN ITS 18,000 EMPLOYEES IN WORLD CLASS CUSTOMER SERVICE

The Defense Commissary Agency Looks to Dale Carnegie Training
To Bring Customer Service to the Next Level

HAPPAUGE, NY (September 30, 2009) - Dale Carnegie Training®, an international leader in performance-based workforce training and solutions, has been selected by the Defense Commissary Agency to put its 18,000 employees, assigned throughout the world, through World Class Customer Service training.

Working under a contract awarded June 26, Dale Carnegie Training made history as the first organization to facilitate 648 training workshops in two months time. Dale Carnegie Training’s customized approach is expected to advance DeCA’s level of service to its customers from “excellent” to “world class.” Workshops, conducted almost simultaneously across the globe to ensure all participating associates are effectively trained within two months, began Aug. 15 in three stateside locations and Aug. 17 overseas.

“With today’s economy, it is paramount that our customers experience the same level of customer service at all of our locations in the U.S. and overseas,” said DeCA Director and CEO Philip E. Sakowitz Jr. “Our customers, the men and women of the armed services and their families, deserve the very best we can offer in the way of products and services,” he continued, “so the first step in our self-improvement is to provide customer service training to all our employees – from those at headquarters and region offices to every store associate in every commissary, worldwide.

“The workshops Dale Carnegie will be providing under our contract will help us take our already excellent customer service to the next level,” Sakowitz added.

One employee who has been with DeCA for only a few years, Christopher Hawthorne, store associate at Fort Lee, said he welcomes the opportunity to improve customer satisfaction through the World Class Customer Service training.

“I really love working at this store,” he admitted. “There’s great chemistry with everyone who works here, and the customers are really nice. But there are times when a customer will come in – someone who might not be having a good day – and I won’t know what to do to make it better for them. So, maybe with this training, I’ll learn how to handle customers like that – rather than having to go to get the manager or director.

Dale Carnegie’s World Class Customer Service training takes DeCA employees through a four-phase training improvement cycle, which includes reinforcing a positive attitude, building a knowledge base, applying knowledge to work situations and developing skills. Workshops consist of 30 people in each of the 648 eight-hour sessions. The two-month training cycle ends Oct. 16 with a workshop at Fort Lee, Va.

# # #

About Dale Carnegie Training®

Dale Carnegie Training® partners with middle market and large corporations as well as organizations to produce measurable business results by improving the performance of employees with emphasis on leadership, sales, team building and interpersonal relations, customer service, public speaking and presentations and other essential management skills. The courses are available in 27 languages throughout the world; they cover the entire United States and reach over 80 countries. Dale Carnegie Training® includes as its clients 400 of the Fortune 500 companies. Approximately eight million people have experienced Dale Carnegie Training®.

Dale Carnegie’s corporate specialists work with individuals, groups and organizations to design solutions that unleash your employees’ potential, enabling your organization to reach the next level of performance. Dale Carnegie Training® offers public courses, seminars and workshops, as well as in-house customized training, corporate assessments, online reinforcement and one-on-one coaching.

Media Contact:
Brooke Mahaffey, ( 216) 393-4617, brooke_mahaffey at dalecarnegie dot com
Lance Tyson, (216) 663-2500, lance_tyson at dalecarnegie dot com

Defense Commissary Agency

The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Authorized patrons purchase items at cost, plus a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. Shoppers save an average of more than 30 percent on their purchases compared to commercial prices – savings worth about $3,400 annually for a family of four. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.

Dale Carnegie Employee Engagement Day

2009-09-24T00:43:00.007-04:00

Dale Carnegie Training Focuses on Employee Engagement with Global Re-Engagement Day

Well my friends, it’s been a rough few years. In 2008 we saw gas prices skyrocket to over $4 a gallon and we had an election that was on par with a WWE Smackdown. We learned that we were in a recession that was actually backdated to December of 2007. And we still suffer through a weak job market that continues to shift leaving hundreds of thousands of job casualties every week and even more employees less engaged and demotivated.

However, relief is in sight as experts tell us that the economy is beginning to pull up out of it’s 2 year long nosedive. The question is how quickly can businesses reposition themselves in this emerging new economy and how long will it be before employees become engaged again doing the work that they love?

A more important question is will your employees be engaged in your business or will they look elsewhere to do what Top Peters describes as “work worth paying for”?

The war for talent is not over. In fact, it never really ended, even when the Great Recession was in full bloom. In our work with Profiles International, a skills assessment company, we saw that companies were always hunting for good talent and they were willing to spend money to turn good talent into great talent. As the Great Recession recedes into the past and effective businesses begin to ramp up their production, some companies will begin to experience a critical talent drain. Employees that were only working because they needed a job will start looking at other job opportunities for challenging projects and doing “work worth paying for”. They will quickly jump to these new opportunities unless you, the business owner, can get your employees engaged and keep them engaged.

This is one of the reasons why Dale Carnegie Training has created the Global Re-Engagement Day Initiative. With this initiative, Dale Carnegie Training gives small and medium businesses a forum for trading ideas and sharing leadership strategies to get employees engaged and keep the talent that they have.

While there are several events planned nationally, the event for the Midwest Region will be held on October 6 at The Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH. Yes, that is the home of the world famous Columbus BlueJackets.

You will find the Global Re-Engagement Day Initiative press release here and you can sign in here to register for this event.

Now If you have a current situation that involves employee engagement and it's keeing you up at night, type it up and email it to larry_prevost at dcarnegietraining dot com (using the appropriate symbols for the "at" and the "dot"). I’ll get it to the facilitator and they will address it during the workshop.

If there is not enough time to get to all of the situations, then I’ll put together a brief interview with Ed Eppley, Laura Nortz, or one of our other Leadership Training for Managers instructors. I’ll post the interview as a podcast that you can download from this location at a future date.

Good Selling.

Corporate College Now Offers Dale Carnegie Training

2009-08-27T17:37:00.003-04:00

Corporate College Taps Dale Carnegie Training To Enhance Their Course Offering

To spur economic growth in North East Ohio, Corporate College has partnered with Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana. The greater Cleveland area student body now has yet another way to enhance their skills set and leverage their technical knowledge to their advantage.

It's one thing to come out of school knowing the principle fundamentals of mathematical systems. It's quite a different ballgame to make these mathematical systems work for you as an engineer.

But to come out of school not only with fundamental knowledge of mathematics coupled with the practicality of engineering principles, but to be able to combine that knowledge with the wisdom of controlled risk assessments, knowledge of the principles behind human interaction and an enhanced ability to communicate effectively at any level... well, let's just say that this kind of person has an extreme advantage.

As this latest Great Recession finally starts to recede, people are wondering what kind of economy is going to arise from the ashes and, more importantly, what role will they be able to play in this different economy. They are asking questions like, "what kind of opportunities will be available?" and "how will my skills fit in this new economy?" or "what kind of skills will be necessary to thrive as the old economy leaves and the new economy begins to take root?"

The team over at Corporate College has recognized this trend and that's why starting this September, you'll be able to enroll in a Dale Carnegie Course, a Sales Advantage program or anyone one of our seven programs that that Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana will be offering in conjunction with Corporate College.

You can read the press release on our partnership with Corporate College on our site here.

Good Selling!

Cleveland Linkedin Networking Tonight

2009-08-25T13:08:00.004-04:00

Cleveland Linkedin Networking Event Looks To Be A Blowout!

OK gang. The Cleveland Linkedin Networking Event looks to be a big one this evening.

I mean really big!

Huge!

700+ people Huge!

If I didn't know better, I would say that Lewis is trying to grab every person in the city of Cleveland.

This networking event has done nothing but grow since its inception near the beginning of the year. And in this particular event, Lewis Howes, master LinkedIn consultant, will hold a speed networking event for the first 50 people through the door.

So pick up your business cards, polish your shoes and get ready to do some serious networking as we try to max out the Rock Bottom Cafe.

You can find directions and registrations information for Cleveland's Premier LinkedIn event on my latest post on salesittech.blogspot.com.

Good Selling.

Pay Attention to These 5 Verbal Clues to Outsell the Competition

2009-07-24T14:28:00.000-04:00

One of the skills that you can actively develop when cold calling is your ability to listen to your prospects--being able to gather information, understand that information and apply it to turn your prospects into customers and turn your customers into happy clients.

Here are five things to pay attention to when you are going through your sales process. They are absolutely essential when conducting your sales activities over the phone:

1. Listen to the speed and cadence of your prospect's speech patterns.
You communicate most effectively with your clients when you talk like them. When you speak, match their speed and cadence.
If you want to achieve rapport and communicate as effectively as possible, then exercise your flexibility and talk like your prospect.

2. Listen to their intonation.
Emphasis on one particular word should give you clues on the types of the questions that you'll need to move the process forward.

3. Listen for repeat phrases.
If your client repeatedly asks about something, regardless if they preface it with statements like, "It's not a big thing..." or "I was just curious..." or "It's not important..." you better believe that it is important in their mind. That's an indication that it's time to start drilling down with questions to discover the driving force behind the thing that they claim is not important.

4. Listen to the types of words that they use.
You want to convey a sensory-rich description of your solution to your prospect, employing a variety of sensory descriptions, but first you need to gain rapport and that will entail meeting your prospect where they currently are and talking with them in their terms.

5. Listen for phrases that seem out of place.
The key here is not to listen for the covert messages or hidden meaning in your client's communication. The key here is to be cognizant of the patterns that they use to communicate their challenges to you. If you know how they prefer to communicate, then you can communicate like them on their terms. And if you can communicate like them, then you will establish rapport quicker and maintain it longer. And if you can maintain rapport, then you work your sales process from trust and you'll find yourself closing more deals.

Source: Manta.com

For more tips on selling, check out our Sales Advantage program!
www.dcarnegietraining.com

614-437-9530
K_Fisher@dalecarnegie.com

10 Traits of the Top Sales Performers

2009-07-09T16:06:00.004-04:00

Ever wondered, what it took to become a top performer?

1. They come out of their comfort zone i.e. they are wiling to try things which most people are not until it becomes comfortable, like talking to strangers, making cold calls and going to networking events alone to meet new prospects.

2. They are committed to results. Commitment is doing the things you know you should do long after the mood you said it in has left you.

3. Motivated; they set large specific goals like I am going to earn $15,000 by 31st September.

4. Begin with the end in mind. They ask themselves the regular question; what would the more refined successful, accomplished version of me say to a prospect?

5. They delay gratification. They discipline themselves by doing actions what successful people do so that they can they have what successful people have.

6. Expect a positive result. They always expect the sale and focus on solutions to every situation.

7. They are team players. They understand that they need to have great relationships with all resources and people, i.e. people in the back office, customer services and other areas because you never know when you need a favour to get a sale through.

8. Enthusiasm; if you catch on fire with enthusiasm people will come from miles to watch you burn.

9. Work harder. They start cold calls early when most people are having breakfast or coffee.

10. Single-day action. They take action toward their goals every day whether they feel like it or not because they know it creates a habit of action which translates into results.

Source: Andrew Obrien Cameron, Manta.com

Check out our Sales Advantage program!
http://www.dcarnegietraining.com/

How to Get Cooperation....

2009-07-02T13:56:00.002-04:00

'Don't you have much more faith in ideas that you discover for yourself than in dieas that are handed to you on a silver platter? If so, isn't it bad judment to try and ram your opinions down the throats of other people? Isn't it wiser to make suggestions-and let the other person think out the conclusion?

Adolph Seltz of Philadelphia, sales manager in an automobile showroom and a student in one of my courses, suddenly found himself confronted with the necessity of injecting enthusiasm into a discouraged and disorganized group of automobile salespeople. Calling a sales meeting, he urged his people to tell him exactly what they expected from him. As they talked, he wrote their ideas on the blackboard. He then said: "I'll give you all these qualities you expect from me. Now I want you to tell me what I have a right to expect from you." The replies came quick and fast: loyalty, honesty, initiative, optimism, teamwork, eight hours a day of enthusiastic work. The meeting ended with a new courage, a new inspiration-one salesperson volunteered to work fourteen hours a day-and Mr. Seltz reported to me that the increase of sales was phenomenal.

"The people had made a sort of moral bargain with me," said Mr. Seltz, "and as long as I lived up to my part in it, they were determined to live up to theirs. Consulting them about their wishes and desires was just the shot in the arm they needed."

No one likes to feel that he or she is being sold something or told to do a thing. We much prefer to feel that we are buying of our own accord or acting on our own ideas. We like to be consulted about our wishes, our wants, our thoughts.'

Source: How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Quote of the Week

2009-06-26T16:00:00.001-04:00

"Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend your time trying to accomplish something they will admire."

Dale Carnegie

Quote of the Week...

2009-06-09T16:56:00.002-04:00

"We can all endure disaster and tragedy, and triumph over them- if we have to. We may not think we can, but we have surprisingly strong inner resources that will see us through if we will only make use of them. We are stronger than we think."

-Dale Carnegie

'Dale Carnegie's Wild Influence'

2009-06-02T15:17:00.002-04:00

Source: Investor's Business Daily, Inc
Nancy Gondo
Wednesday May 27, 2009

It was 1909, and Dale Carnegie was depressed.

He despised his job.

He ate cheap, vile food.

And he lived in a cockroach-infested room in New York City.

Should he quit his sales job without having another at the ready?

It may have seemed risky, but in his heart he knew the answer.

"So I made my decision -- and that decision completely altered my future," he wrote in his 1948 best-seller, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living," which has sold millions of copies. "It has made the rest of my life happy and rewarding beyond my most utopian aspirations."

Carnegie quit his job. He would teach adult classes at night, leaving his days free so he could prepare lectures and have time to write short stories and novels.

But what subject should he teach? He'd found success in college debates and public speaking, so he thought that could be his ticket.

Public speaking "had wiped out my timidity and lack of self-confidence and given me the courage and assurance to deal with people," he explained. "It had also made clear that leadership usually gravitates to the man who can get up and say what he thinks."

He applied to teach night-school courses at Columbia University and New York University, but got turned down by both. Not one to give up, he talked the Young Men's Christian Association into giving him a shot at teaching a class.

Cashing In
The YMCA refused to pay him a salary -- instead giving him a profit percentage -- so he'd have to prove his worth. And he did. Within three seasons, he was making $30 a night, worth $685 today.

"I had to motivate my students," Carnegie wrote. "I had to help them solve their problems. I had to make each session so inspiring that they wanted to continue coming."

He watched them flourish as they developed self-confidence and knew he'd found his calling.
What started as a night-school class in 1912 has blossomed into a training program that's available in 25 languages across 75 countries.

"What has changed since 1912 isn't so much Dale Carnegie Training's popularity but rather its sphere of influence," Peter Handal, CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, told IBD via e-mail.

How did the program become so popular?

Carnegie knew what people wanted: to learn how to understand -- and get along well with others. So he studied newspaper columns, magazine articles and philosophers' and psychologists' writings. He read biographies of leaders and interviewed top people in all fields.

Carnegie put his findings in a speech called "How to Win Friends and Influence People," which started as a short talk and morphed into an hour-and-a-half lecture.

In 1936, he published a book with that title to be used in his course. It became an instant hit.
When he died in 1955, 5 million copies of "How to Win Friends" had sold in 31 languages. Today, 50 million copies of his books have been printed in 38 languages.

And 7 million people have taken the Carnegie course, Handal estimates.
"Rather than base our courses upon transient business fads or trends, Dale Carnegie Training's lessons are based on inherent tenets of human nature," he said. "Therefore, the courses have universal appeal and continue to succeed in different cultures and across continents."

Gil Kemp, a Carnegie grad who in 1989 co-wrote "Dale Carnegie: The Man Who Influenced Millions," recalls the self-help guru as a perfectionist who was always trying to improve the course.

"I particularly admire Carnegie's trial-and-error approach," Kemp told IBD. "He was inventive and always experimenting. Rather than having a preconceived notion of how he should teach, he tried different approaches and built on the ones that delivered results."
Giving up wasn't in his nature.

Born in 1888 in rural Missouri, Dale Carnagey (later changed to Carnegie) grew up poor and shy. He got up at the crack of dawn to do farming chores before school. In class, he was self-conscious about his clothes and prominent ears.

When he reached high school, he witnessed the power of speech. He was amazed at how a speaker from the Chautauqua adult-education movement gripped the audience.
Intrigued, Carnegie practiced public speaking by talking to animals at his family's barn. He gave a few speeches at Sunday school and had a role in a high school play. Then he pursued public speaking in earnest at what is now the University of Central Missouri, in Warrensburg, Mo.
Carnegie saw that students who won debates were considered intellectual leaders. He wanted that status, but he had to join a society and win all the contests in that group in order to enter an intersociety event.

He lost the first dozen contests he entered.

Still, he pressed on and began winning. He found that the best way to beat fear was to confront it.

"Besides being disciplined, Carnegie's friends and classmates knew him to be an engaging conversationalist gifted with this astute ability to win people's enthusiasm and cooperation and never at the expense of his or others' integrity," Handal said. "He was a natural salesman, which is why no one was surprised when he decided to make a career out of it."

After college, Carnegie sold home-study courses door-to-door but found demand was lacking. What was he doing wrong, he wondered? A salesman he knew was making a decent living selling these classes.

So he thought he'd sell a more in-demand product. He got a job as a salesman for Armour & Co., a meatpacker. After all, his hands-on experience from his father's farm could help him make his sales pitch.

His hard work and persistence paid off. He became the No. 1 salesman in Omaha, Neb., and was offered a management position, but he politely turned it down.

He wanted to go East. That led to his dead-end sales job in New York before he made the life-altering shift to teach public speaking.

The Boost

To inspire the class, he'd ask students to talk about childhood experiences. To this day, they're greeted with applause before and after speaking, which helps improve confidence and self-esteem.

"In a Carnegie training room, your credentials and resume don't matter," Kemp said. "It's what you do in the moment you're in front of the group that counts."

Kemp, who wrote the Carnegie bio after taking the course, is president and founder of Home Decorators Collection, a mail-order business he started two decades ago. Three years ago, he and his partner sold the business to Home Depot (NYSE:HD - News).

Carnegie's students often went on to earn promotions and higher wages after taking his class. Considering he lifted himself from poverty to a best-selling author with a now-worldwide training program in place, that's no big surprise.

"To those who knew (Carnegie), he was living proof of the fact that if you can somehow make yourself more likeable, doing so is not only good for business but is good for winning friends and influencing people," Handal said.

Begin With Praise and Honest Appreciation

2009-05-28T09:59:00.003-04:00

'Dorothy Wrublewski, a branch manager of the Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Federal Credit Union, reported to one of our classes how she was able to help one of her employees be more productive.

"We recently hired a young lady as a teller trainee. Her contact with our customers was very good. She was accurate and efficient in handling individual transactions. The problem developed at the end of the day when it was time to balance out.

"The head teller came to me and strongly suggested that I fire this woman. 'She is holding up everyone else because she is so slow in balancing out. I've shown her over and over, but she can't get it. She's got to go.'

"The next day I observed her working quickly and accurately when handling the normal everyday transactions, and she was very pleasant with our customers.

"It didn't take long to discover why she had trouble balancing out. After the office closed, I went to talk with her. She was obviously nervous and upset. I praised her for being so friendly and outgoing with the customers and complimented her for the accuracy and speed used in that work. Then I suggested we review the procedure we use in balancing the cash drawer. Once she realized I had confidence in her, she easily followed my suggestions and soon mastered this function. We have had no problems with her since."

Beginning with praise is like the dentist who beings his work with Novocain. The patient still gets a drilling, but the Novocain is pain-killing.'

*Source: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Would You Take A Million Dollars for What You Have?

2009-05-20T12:04:00.005-04:00

'I have know Harold Abbott for years. He lived in Webb City, Missouri. He used to be my lecture manager. One day, he and I met in Kansas City, and he drove me down to my farm at Belton, Missouri. During that drive, I asked him how he kept from worrying; and he told me an inspiring story that I shall never forget.

"I used to worry a lot," he said, "but one spring day in 1934, I was walking down West Dougherty Street in Webb City when I saw a sight that banished all my worries. It all happened in ten seconds, but during those ten seconds I learned more about how to live than I had learned in the previous ten years. For two years I had been running a grocery store in Webb City," Harold Abbott said, as he told me the story. "I had not only lost all my savings, but I had incurred debts that took me seven years to pay back. My grocery store had been closed the previous Saturday; and now I was going to the Merchants and Miners Bank to borrow money so I could go to Kansas city and look for a job. I walked like a beaten man. I had lost all my fight and faith. All of the suddenly I saw coming down the street with a block of wood in each hand. I met him just after he had crossed the street and was starting to lift himself up a few inches over the curb to the sidewalk. As he tilted his little wooden platform to an angle, his eyes met mine.

He greeted me with a grand smile. 'Good morning, sir. It is a fine morning, isn't it?' he said with spirit. As I stood looking at him, I realized how rich I was. I had two legs. I could walk. I felt ashamed of my self-pity. I said to myself if he can be happy, cheerful, and confident without legs, I certainly can with legs. I could already feel my chest lifting. I had intended to ask the Merchants and Miners Bank for only one hundred dollars. But now I had the courage to ask for two hundred. I had intended to say that I wanted to go to Kansas City to try and get a job. But now I announced confidently that I wanted to go to Kansas City to get a job. I got the loan; and I got the job.

"I now have a the following words pasted on my bathroom mirror, and I read them every morning as I shave:

I had the blues because I had no shoes,

Until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet."

Why don't you stop and ask yourself: "What the heck am I worrying about?" You will probably find that it is comparatively unimportant and insignificant. '

*Source: How To Stop Worrying and Start Livng by Dale Carnegie

"How To Eliminate Fifty Percent of Your Business Worries"

2009-05-13T12:06:00.005-04:00

'My friend Frank Bettger, one of the top insurance men in America, told me he not only reduced his business worries, but nearly doubled his income by using this method.

"Years ago," said Frank Bettger, "when I first started to sell insurance, I was filled with a boundless enthusiasm and love for my work. Then something happened. I became so discouraged that I despised my work and thought of giving it up. I think I would have quit-if I hadn't got the idea, one Saturday morning, of sitting down and trying to get at the root of my worries.

"1. I asked myself first, 'Just what is the problem?' The problem was: I was not getting high enough returns for the staggering amount of calls I was making. I seemed to do pretty well at selling a prospect until the moment came for closing a sale. Then the customers would say, 'Well, I'll think it over, Mr. Bettger. Come and see me again.' It was the time I wasted on these follow-up calls that was causing my depression.

"2. I asked myself, 'What are the possible solutions?' But to get the answer to that one, I had to study the facts. I got out my record book for the last twelve months and studied the figures.

"I made an astounding discovery! Right there in black and white, I discovered that seventy percent of my sales had been closed on the very first interview! Twenty-three percent of my sales had been closed on the second interview! And only seven percent of my sales had been closed had been closed on those third, fourth, fifth, etc., interviews, which were running me ragged and taking up time. In other words, I was wasting fully one half of my working day on a part of my business which was responsible for only seven percent of my sales!

"3.'What is the answer?' The answer was obvious. I immediately cut out all visits beyond the second interview, and spent the extra time building up new prospects. The results were unbelievable. In a very short time, I had doubled the cash value of every visit I made."

As I said, Frank Bettger became one of the best-known life-insurance salesmen in the country. But he was on the point of giving up. He was on the point of admitting failure-until analyzing the problem gave him the boost on the road to success.

Can you apply these questions to your business problems? To repeat my challenge-they can reduce your worries by fifty percent. Here they are again:

1. What is the problem?

2. What is the CAUSE of the problem?

3. What are all the possible solutions to the problem?

4. What solution do you suggest?'

*Source: How To Stop Worrying & Start Living by Dale Carnegie

Gen Next Empowers Young Entrepreneurs

2009-05-07T00:11:00.004-04:00

I typically spend my nights cleaning up email and wading through my Twitter account, following up on people that follow me, checking them out and making sure that they are real.

There are a lot of Tweeps out there that have a lot to say about… how to use twitter to market their latest Internet marketing machines. Just follow the trail of money to the millionaires.

But you know, I can appreciate having more than one stream of income and I applaud these individuals for at least having the courage to try something new and different.

That’s why I immediately sat up and took notice of one of the Tweeps that had decided to follow me, @9miles or, 9miles Media.

9Miles Media is a small graphic and web design group existing entirely on the web and is composed of 8 individuals in a variety of diverse locations: places like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, the UK, and Australia. That’s like… almost 24 time zones and can truly be called a group with a worldwide reach. I thought only companies like Intel and Microsoft enjoyed that kind of presence.

Well, if you aren’t feeling small and ineffective yet, you will in a moment. This group of 8 intrepid entrepreneurs…

…is composed entirely of teenagers!

That’s right. Between the ages of 13 and 16, this group is doing something that some individuals can’t seem to do with their team packed completely in their back yard.

So how are you using your technology to keep your team together? How do you leverage all of this “cool tech stuff” to keep your members motivated, directed and on track with all of the projects that are going on?

When it comes to leveraging technology and breaking geographic boundaries, I think these young entrepreneurs have the “traditional boomers” beat hands down and we can learn a few things from them.

That’s why I really like the Gen Next program that we conduct every summer here in Cleveland and in Columbus this year. It gives the up-and-coming generation an opportunity to question the old ideas that bind our generation, like “working hard”, “obeying the chain of command”, and “corporate loyalty”, and gives them an opportunity to try something new, different, and unrestrained in this bold new era.

While I don’t think that we should completely toss out all of the old ideas in favor of the new, I do believe that some of these old ideas need to be reviewed and checked with greater regularity to see if they need either tweaking or tossing. Our generation did it and the generation before ours did the same thing.

One of the great management sayings in the early 90’s was, “Sacred Cows make the best burgers”.

Still true today, even if the “Sacred Cows” happen to be the ideas of our generation.

Holy Cow! It’s time to move over and let the next generation have their shot. Let’s make sure that they have the basic communication and leadership principles to get the job done by getting them involved in the Gen Next program.

Then, be prepared to be wowed!

@larryprevost

SEQUENT ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP TO PROVIDE OUTPLACEMENT SERVICES FOR COMPANIES FACING DOWNSIZING

2009-05-04T17:01:00.003-04:00

COLUMBUS, Ohio (April 20, 2009) -- Sequent, a consulting and outsourcingfirm, together with Dale Carnegie Training, an internationally recognized leaderin human resources and employee management, Humor Consultants, a firmspecializing in individual and professional growth, and Mindful Life/MindfulWork, an experiential coaching/training consulting firm, have formed a strategicpartnership to provide Outplacement Services for companies facing downsizing.

"The goal of this partnership is to establish outplacement programs through anetwork of consulting and outplacement firms that are collaborating to assistcompanies and their employees as they face downsizing,"said Tim Reed,managing director of Employment Services at Sequent. "By partnering with DaleCarnegie Training, Humor Consultants and Mindful Life/Mindful Work, webelieve we have created unique and innovative outplacement programs that arerich in both content and experience."

The outplacement programs that Sequent and its partners have developed help toretrain and refocus employees. The programs include personal assessments,practical skills training needed for career transition, as well as the personalcoaching out-of-work employees need to reinvent themselves and meet thechallenges of the changing business climate. The objective is to help companiesby providing their downsized employees with the skills and training they need toget back to work quickly, even as they face the tightest job market in decades.

Sequent and its partners have already started marketing their practical programs tolocal companies. "Our hope is that many companies will not only want to helptheir own downsized employees, but will also want to give back to theircommunity in these challenging economic times,"said Reed. "We are excited tobe apart of such an important initiative to help get people back to work."

About Sequent
Sequent is a consulting and outsourcing firm that helps clients improve corporateperformance through the integration of people strategies, process management andtechnology. The firm is one of the top 100 privately held businesses in CentralOhio with offices in Columbus, Ohio; Birmingham, Alabama; Nashville,Tennessee, and Springfield, Ohio. Sequent's offerings include Human CapitalManagement, Technology Solutions, Thought Leadership, Employee BenefitPrograms and Risk Management. For more information, visit http://www.sequent.biz/.

About Dale Carnegie Training
Dale Carnegie Training, the internationally recognized leader in human behavioraldevelopment and employee management, has evolved from one man's belief inthe power of self-improvement to a performance-based learning and developmentcompany. They focus on coaching business people to sharpen theircommunication, presentation, and leadership skills, improving their overallprofessional performance. Lance Tyson, CEO of Tyson Eppley Management, islicensed to provide Dale Carnegie Training in Ohio, Indiana and NorthernKentucky. Through a process of individual consulting and group dynamics, theyoffer practical principles and processes that give people the knowledge, skills andpractices they need to enhance their job search. http://www.dcarnegietraining.com/

About Humor Consultants
Phil Sorentino, co-founder of Humor Consultants specializes in individual andprofessional growth. His goal is to assist people in four critical areas: WorkingSmart, Having Fun, Making Money, Developing an Action Plan. Though a"Conoaching"session, which is part consulting and part coaching, and throughon-going support, he works with individuals to help them achieve their uniquegoals in three areas: growth, enjoyment and profit. Conoaching is a process, notan event, that is meant to guide individuals to uncover answers for themselves.The process provides job seekers with materials and assignments that assist intheir job search and motivates them to have fun at the same time. http://www.humorconsultants.com

About Mindful Life/MindfulWork
Patricia Bright founder of Mindful Life/Mindful Work offers experientialcoaching and training services to individuals to foster personal insight in careertransitioning. She helps individuals re-orient habits or conditioned patterns ofthinking and doing in order to maximize perspective and potential. She helpsindividuals create resumes that stand out by focusing on promoting the skills andabilities of the individual. In addition to the class time she provides in theoutplacement programs, she also spends time one-on-one with individuals whoneed help overcoming challenges and struggles so that they can reach their highestpotential. http://www.patriciabright.wordpress.com/

###

Break Down The Doors And Get The Job Interview Using Linkedin

2009-04-20T12:24:00.004-04:00

In this economy, many of us are struggling with questions like, “How do I find a job?” or “What do I have to do to get an interview?”

Here is a quick story about a college senior who took a sales approach.

After making several attempts to breach the corporate walls of his target company and failing to accomplish his task, he decided to leverage the power of his network. He did a search in Linkedin for the company, discovered someone in the target organization that shared a connection with him, and asked his connection for an introduction. One week later, he’s in a NYC Starbucks for a job interview.

In sales parlance, he got a referral. And that referral allowed him to get in the door, something that he had failed to do on his own.

If you are out there pounding the pavement, wondering how to get into companies that you know could use your stuff, or if you are looking for a way to get a job interview with a company, make Linkedin your first stop. It’s so much easier to be walked in the front door by a trusted referral than by attempting to scale the walls on your own.

Landing A Job Interview, Thanks To Linkedin.

Linkedin Networking Event Makes Columbus News on NBC

2009-03-25T16:08:00.002-04:00

The Linkedin Success Week Event put on by Lewis Howes and Frank Agin a few weeks ago was a big hit in Cleveland and Columbus. In case you were hiding in your home and avoiding the cold weather, the Linkedin event attracted upwards of 400 people in the Columbus area, all looking to connect and exchange contact information.

The event also attracted the attention of the more traditional media outlets. See the Columbus NBC Channel 8 interview with Lewis and Frank on the LinkedWorking site here.

Bet you won’t miss the next one.

Get More Face Time With Your Prospects By Using The Dale Carnegie Principles To Open Your Sales Calls

2009-03-18T22:49:00.008-04:00

Last night I sitting in the latest Dale Carnegie Course facilitated by Laura Nortz. We were in session 4, reviewing success stories with the first set of Dale Carnegie Principles.

During the second half of the session, I heard one of our account managers deliver a remarkable demonstration of exceptional sales acumen, even though she has been on the job for just over two months.

"The Secret Of My Success". See Kim's Linkedin profile here:

Kim Hartzler, new account manager, had been trying to get some talk time with an HR person regarding one of the new assessment services that we offer. Kim was constantly getting the brush off. If you are in sales, I know that you’ve heard some of these before:

I’m busy right now.
I don’t have time.
We aren’t buying anything right now.
I’m on my way out the door.
Now is not a good time.

On this particular instance, Kim had caught her prospect on their way out the door and she got the standard litany of replies.

On this particular occasion, Kim thought about the Dale Carnegie Principles and thought about some of the challenges that they faced. Then she said, “Let me ask you just one question. I know that you spend a lot of time scouring through resumes trying to find the right person to fill a position. What would it be worth to you if you could eliminate the amount of time you spend searching through resumes, yet increase your certainty of getting the right person in the right place the first time?”

Apparently, Kim hit a very raw nerve because her contact paused and then said, “We need to talk”.

Since the start of this ugly recession (or at least since the financial wizards admitted that we were in an ugly recession a year after the fact), we have been bombarded with questions from sales reps looking for the“unfair advantage” that will give them an edge. Questions like:

“How do you open a sales call?”
“How do you keep your contact on the phone when making a cold call?”
“How do you respond when your contact says that they aren’t buying anything in this economy?”

In every case, my response is the same. Stop talking about you, your company or your product. Talk about something that your prospect is interested in.

In the good old days of selling when times were good and the money was flowing freely, you could get away with talking about the marlin on your prospect’s wall, the latest super hot car, or the fantastic restaurant down the street.

What are your prospects interested in today? Try these:

How to save time.
How to hold on to their jobs.
How to increase cash flow using their current resources.
How to leverage their technology to decrease their financial costs.

Your prospects today want to talk to someone that can help them solve their challenges and issues more than ever before. They don’t have time to waste talking about pseudo hobbies.

Come to think of it, they didn’t have time to waste before. But now the tolerance threshold has dropped into the basement. So if you can’t talk about something that they are extremely interested in, be prepared to get booted out the door, while watching someone else who has that capability, like Kim Hartzler, swoop in and walk away with your business.

For Hartzler, exceptional presentation and communications skills is a no brainer

Do you want an unfair advantage? Follow Kim’s lead and take the time to discover the challenges that your prospects face daily. Then talk about how you can help them resolve those challenges.

I’ll leave you with these words of wisdom regarding the "unfair advantage" I picked up from Aptela when I worked in the telecomm industry:

“The advantage is unfair only if you ain't got it.”

Go get ‘em.

Virus Scanner For Sales Reps

2009-03-15T22:16:00.003-04:00

Here is a quick post for all of you sales reps out there.

If you suspect that you have some type of malware o your system, like a virus or a trojan looking for passwords, here is something for you to use.

On the Tech blog for Sales Reps, you'll find a couple of online malware scanners to help clean up your machine. You'll find them here at Koobface Worm Is On The Move Again Attacking Facebook Users.

Lock your machine down.

Good Selling.

Business First Is Another Member Of The McGohan Brabender Dale Carnegie Of Ohio Tag Team In This Recession Smackdown

2009-03-10T00:46:00.005-04:00

It has come to my attention that there is another unsung hero helping the good people in the Ohio Valley during these tough times.

You may know that Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana has a long standing relationship with McGohan Brabender in helping companies in OH, KY and IN get the best for their people..

What you may not know is the relationship that Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana has with Business First, the producers of the Business Journals that you see in various cities including the Cincinnati Business Courier and the Business First of Columbus.

Business First is a partner sponsor for the seminar series currently being run in Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton in conjunction with McGohan Brabender and Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana.

Within the last month, several of these 3-hour programs have been conducted in southern Ohio ranging from Effective Onboarding Strategies to Effective Sales Tactics. In this economy, hundreds of individuals have attended these programs to discover new ideas in improve their performance, regardless if they were working for a large corporation or a small consultancy. We all need to share ideas in order to be better at what we do. And this is an excellent way to get together with like-minded people and share information..

The rest of these programs are listed below. If you need more information on any of these programs or are interested in attending one, register at the McGohan Brabender Learning Center or leave a message with us at mbdct@dcarnegietraining.com regarding your interest and we’ll get in contact with you and get you set up.

Again, if you are outside of the Ohio Valley area but you are still interested in the ideas that we’ll discuss at these workshops, email us at mbcdt@dcarnegietraining.com with the following information::

Your name

Your company name

An email address where you can be reached

A brief description of two challenges that you are facing

We'll get you the information as well as some possible solutions to help you in addressing your challenges.

Good Selling!

McGohan Brabender Dale Carnegie Programs in Columbus

Create Loyal Customers with Laura Nortz, 03/12/2009

Team Member Engagement with Ed Eppley, 04/16/2009

Cross and Up Selling with Lance Tyson, 05/14/2009

Five Dysfunctions of a TeamEd Eppley, 06/11/2009

Business Professionalism 101 with Kevin Watts, 07/23/2009

Talent Management with Ed Eppley, 08/20/2009

McGohan Brabender Dale Carnegie Programs in Dayton

Recruiting Salespeople with Traci Tigue, 03/19/2009

How Is All The Work Going To Get Done? with Ed Eppley, 05/21/2009

Five Dysfunctions Of A Team with Ed Eppley, 10/01/2009

McGohan Brabender Dale Carnegie Programs in Cincinnati

Onboarding Engagement with Traci Tigue, 04/01/2009

Talent Management with Ed Eppley, 05/06/2009

Team Member Engagement with Kevin Watts, 06/03/2009

Create Loyal Customers with Laura Nortz, 07/01/2009

Five Dysfunctions of a Team with Ed Eppley, 08/05/2009

Cross and Up Selling with Lance Tyson, 09/02/2009

Business Professionalism 101 with Kevin Watts, 10/07/2009

Use This Direct Marketing Technique To Drive Sales In Your Email Campaigns

2009-03-04T01:32:00.006-05:00

About 3 weeks ago, I received a letter in the mail. Yeah, snail mail. Typically, when I get something from the US Postal Office, it’s either:

A bill
Junk Mail
One of the last hardcopy magazines that I simply refuse to give up.

At this point, everyone I know either sends me email, gives me a tweet on twitter, texts me on my cell, chats with me on Google, writes on my Facebook wall, links to me on Linkedin or calls me on my cell. I’m sorry to say that the snail mail only brings me uninteresting news at best and bad news at the worst.

So when this bright yellow 4x6 envelope arrived in the mail, addressing me by name, a real name in the return address and a stamp in the upper right hand corner, it caught my attention.

It even looked like the address and return address had been hand written, as if someone had taken the time to add their personal touch to the correspondence. For a savvy direct marketer, this is easy enough to do with a printer and some clever fonts. Still, it looked extremely personal and inviting.

The thing had me curious. When I first saw it, I thought to myself, “Mike G??? I don’ t know a Mike G. Who is this guy?”

Guess which piece of mail got opened first that day?

When I opened it, I found this card on the inside.

Well, at this point, I’ve got the envelope opened, I’m looking at a dog chewing on a shoe and I needed to know who Mike G was. So I opened the card and found this.

Yow!

RoadRunner Sports, where I bought my shoes to run the Akron Marathon back when the weather was a lot warmer, was reaching out to me again 6 months later.

Not a bad strategy, actually.

There are two things to consider here. First the friendly, personal appearance of the letter stood out from the everyday, humdrum, here-comes-another-bill look. It invited me to open it first over everything else.

You can do this same type of personalized, stand-out-from-the-crowd implementation in email as well. In fact, in a previous post entitle Email Marketing Ideas Using The Dale Carnegie Principles, we discussed how using the Carnegie Principles in an email direct marketing campaign can boost your open rate.

Then there is the strategy of reaching out to me after no activity on my part for almost 6 months. I’m willing to bet that there’s a sizeable chunk of customers in their database that hasn’t made a single purchase over the past couple of months. It just makes plain old common sense to give those people a little nudge, to remind them that RoadRunner Sports is still alive and thinking about them.

There are customers in your database that are like that. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones that you let languish in a corner, ignored, neglected and have collected enough cobwebs to qualify for their own horror movie. They purchased something from you in the past because you had something that they wanted at one time, and have long since fallen into oblivion.

Create a direct marketing campaign that reaches out to them again and brings them back into the fold. It’s a lot cheaper than going out scouring the fields to find new customers. And in this economic environment, you would have to be crazy to sacrifice the people that have patronized you in the past to go hunting for new clients to nurture. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for going out and beating the bushes to find new clients. But not at the expense of past patrons who have already bought something from you.

As I said, I get most of my correspondences electronically as I’m sure most of the new sales force out there does. I get a lot of email from sales reps telling me about their latest offerings or the specials that are coming up.

I can’t remember the last time a sales rep emailed me saying:

“Hey Larry, I know that you were looking at storage systems for your company. Here’s an interesting article that talks about some interesting data preservation techniques.”

“Hey Larry, the last time we spoke you were looking at bringing your team up to speed on using social media in sales. Here’s an interesting blog that discusses using Linkedin to generate leads.”

But I do get 7 or more emails a day from potential suitors saying, “Look at my latest video on killer sales techniques. It’s hot! People are snapping it up. Check it out here.” When I get to their site, the video is a long infomercial on how great their product is. Definitely not personal, and definitely no relationship built.

There’s nothing wrong with self-promotion, but I do believe that it goes a lot further if your audience believes that you have their best interest in mind. The best way to build that credibility and trust is to think of them and send them something of interest when you don’t need anything.

Before this whole credit crisis erupted, the experts recommended that you establish a reputation with your banker by asking for a loan when you didn’t need one. That way you could establish your credentials and earn their trust when the pressure was off. Then, when you did need that loan for starting your business or buying your home, your banker was in your corner because you had already earned their trust.

When was the last time that you emailed your client or prospect something that they were interested in, just to build that relationship? What are you doing to nurture your relationship with your current clients and to re-engage your past clients? Most blogs, videos and articles now have some way of emailing the file out to other parties. Are you making use of that ability to create value for your potential prospects and clients?

I would encourage you right now, to touch base with nine clients that have fallen off of your wagon for whatever reason, and begin bringing them back on board with a quick email that includes something that is of interest to them.

In today’s economic environment, lots of sales people are out there looking for the killer strategy or that one secret that will give them an edge.

Become genuinely interested in your prospects and do something that demonstrates that interest. Show them that you care by sending them something that they can use.

When it comes time to make the sale, they will take care of you.

Get Linkedin At The Cleveland And Akron LinkedWorking Events

2009-03-02T21:00:00.006-05:00

A quick update for those in the Cleveland, Akron and the Northern Ohio area.

If you are looking for new ideas and tactics to leverage in your job search, then you do not want to miss the LinkedWorking Linkedin event. Social Networking mogul and Linkedin expert Lewis Howes is hosting this one at the Rock Bottom Bar and Brewery.

If you are in the Columbus area, your day to get Linkedin is March 5th and in Cincinnati, the event is happening on March 3rd.

But if you live and work in Northern Ohio, including Akron, Canton and Cleveland, then this Wednesday you need to March 4th to the Rock Bottom Bar and start getting Linkedin to a better job, more sales, and a better future.

Find more information on the LinkedWorking Linkedin event at Lewis Howes website here.

Good Hunting!

P.S. This event looks way big: Over 300 people. Get in now before it's too late!

McGohan Brabender and Dale Carnegie of Ohio and Indiana Double-Team the Recession

2009-03-02T11:39:00.019-05:00

If you are like most people in this current economic climate, then you are probably looking for some way to leverage your skills and knowledge to get ahead.

This is not the time to sit by idly, waiting for someone to ride in and save the day. Nor is it the time to ignore the current economic environment with the belief that there is no recession. We're in it up to our collective waists. The question to ask is, what are we going to do about it.

This is the time for directed, determined and deliberate action. We need to have our targets mapped out in front of us and to understand and visualize the goals that we are trying to achieve. We need to architect a plan to help us get where we want to go, the boldness to act on the plan and the tenacity to see it through to the end.

To assists entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners in enhancing their strategic planning and leveraging their resources, Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana has partnered with McGohan Brabender to bring the local community a series of dynamic business building programs.

Leveraging the human resource expertise of McGohan Brabender and the Communication and Leadership power of the Dale Carnegie methodologies, these programs are designed to give you a heads up and a running start in creating powerfully loyal customers, developing dynamic teams, create effective selling strategies, and devising effective methods for managing and developing your talent. Programs are currently underway in the Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati metropolitan area.

If you want to get into the driver's seat and take command of your economic vehicle, then these half-day programs will definitely get you started in the right direction. Register at the McGohan Brabender site or email us at mbdct@dcarnegietraining.com about your interest and someone will contact you directly.

If you are outside of the Ohio Valley area or you have a scheduling conflict, but you are still interested in the ideas that we'll discuss in these programs, email us at mbcdt@dcarnegietraining.com with the following information:

Your name

Your company name

An email address where you can be reached

A brief description of two challenges that you are facing

We'll get you the information as well as some possible solutions to help you in addressing your challenges.

Good Selling!

McGohan Brabender Dale Carnegie Programs in Columbus

Onboarding Engagement with Traci Tigue, 02/026/2009

Create Loyal Customers with Laura Nortz, 03/12/2009

Team Member Engagement with Ed Eppley, 04/16/2009

Cross and Up Selling with Lance Tyson, 05/14/2009

Five Dysfunctions of a TeamEd Eppley, 06/11/2009

Business Professionalism 101 with Kevin Watts, 07/23/2009

Talent Management with Ed Eppley, 08/20/2009

McGohan Brabender Dale Carnegie Programs in Dayton

Recruiting Salespeople with Traci Tigue, 03/19/2009

How Is All The Work Going To Get Done? with Ed Eppley, 05/21/2009

Five Dysfunctions Of A Team with Ed Eppley, 10/01/2009

McGohan Brabender Dale Carnegie Programs in Cincinnati

Building Rapport and Developing Interest with Lance Tyson, 02/04/2009

Communicate, Motivate and Get Results with Ed Eppley, 03/04/2009

Onboarding Engagement with Traci Tigue, 04/01/2009

Talent Management with Ed Eppley, 05/06/2009

Team Member Engagement with Kevin Watts, 06/03/2009

Create Loyal Customers with Laura Nortz, 07/01/2009

Five Dysfunctions of a Team with Ed Eppley, 08/05/2009

Cross and Up Selling with Lance Tyson, 09/02/2009

Business Professionalism 101 with Kevin Watts, 10/07/2009

3 Tips To Supercharge Your Cold Calling Response From Internet Generated Leads

2009-03-02T00:33:00.004-05:00

I posted this on the Sales IT Tech blog a few days ago. It just seemed to fit nicely with some of the other discussions that will take place over there. After all, over there we’ll be looking at Internet lead generation techniques as well as how to implement some of the technology required to make those techniques work.

This particular technique, however, seemed more sales strategic. It would probably be very useful to the any sales rep looking for ways to improve their lead follow-up procedure, especially in these turbulent times.

So here is the follow up technique that involves saying something different from the ever prevalent, “We saw that you downloaded one of our whitepapers. I’m just calling to make sure that you found everything you needed.”

Good hunting!

Three Cold Calling Tips For Augementing Your Lead Generation Strategy

Training Recommendations From President Obama

2009-02-26T14:49:00.012-05:00

The other night I was watching President Obama’s address, the “non-state of the union” State Of The Union and found myself once again enraptured by the same masterful rhetoric that caught my attention during this past election cycle.

There was something in President Obama’s presentation that caught my ear… well, there were actually a lot of things that caught my ear. But my mind kept coming back to this one point much like your tongue is drawn to the raw edge of a jagged tooth.

It just wouldn’t go away.

In the latter half of the speech, President Obama said:

“…It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma…”

For the full text of President Obama's address, click on the picture above.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve read a number of books that encourage individuals to invest in their own education. At the very end of his book, The Accidental Salesperson, Chris Lyttle states that taking responsibility for your own education is the best investment you will ever make. And in a book entitled Self Made in America, the author, John McCormack, goes on extensively about the education system in America. He takes the position that in order to compete effectively on a global scale, we need to invest in our people and ourselves.

John McCormack wrote his book back in 1992, so this is not a new concept. At some level, every small businessperson realized that in order for their company to be a player in the growing global economy, they would need smart, quick, agile people who could turn on a mental dime. And in order to keep them smart, quick and agile, they would need to make a professional development investment in those people as well as themselves. However, I think this is the first time in my lifetime that I’ve heard the President of the United States strongly encourage people to invest in their own education and training.

Here is an interesting phenomenon.

I have seen a lot of discussion about the “War For Talent”. Yet, over the past year, I have also seen a lot of email comes across the wire from people who were trainers and educators looking for work. They said that their entire department had either been reduced in size or entirely slashed and they were looking for employment alternatives.

What!!?? I’m in a war for acquiring talent and my budget for holding onto that talent and keeping sharp and o them is zero dollars?

Cutting the entire training group during hard economic times may have made sense for companies in the “agricultural age” and maybe some sense in the “industrial age”, but to cut training in the “information age”? Where your people are considered “knowledge workers” and our commerce depends on how effective we can sell and move information? That makes about as much sense as an Olympic wrestler going to his coach and saying, “Coach! I need to loose 5 pounds to make my weight classification. Here, cut off my foot! I’ll worry about getting it back after the match.”

I’ve been through my share of layoffs, downsizes, right-sizes, outsourcing programs and corporate realignments. In all cases, I’ve never seen a company that “cuts off its foot to make weight” become a dominant player. The good people typically find other gigs.

And the rest?

Well, they simply hang on while the company slowly sails off into the sunset of obscurity.

Is it possible to come back after such extreme measures? I guess. Anything is possible. It’s just that I’ve never seen it happen.

The lesson here, however, is for the individual.

As a former manager told me on several occasions, there is life after [put your company name here]. Companies come and go, and there will always be corporate layoffs. You, however, can’t afford to cut your training and development budget. If you want to be a player in this new global economy, then you need to heed President Obama’s words and take ownership of your own training and development program as well as your personal branding and promotion program. This includes increasing your personal knowledge, like learning the new communication technologies, as well as developing new skills sets, including communication, presentation, leadership and most importantly, sales skills.

My personal preference is for communication and sales training. Some may think that I’m being biased here, but I’m not.

Imagine applying for a sales position and hearing “I think you are a great closer, but I can get my website to close the sale 24 hours a day 7 days a week. What I need is someone who understands the consultative sale and can partner with our important clients.”

Or imagine yourself thinking that you’ve got all of the qualifications to excel at the job you are applying for only to be beaten by the guy who was not as good as you but able to better articulate and sell their skills and abilities.

As we move forward in a questionable economy, we need to be somewhat selfish and think about our own future. Ask yourself these questions:

What kinds of knowledge and skills are going to make me more marketable in the future?

What kinds of skills will I need to adequately present my abilities to possible clients or employers?

What types of companies will be looking for the types of skills that I have or I am developing and how many of them will be out there when I am ready to move forward?

How should I present my skills and abilities to my prospective buyer (the company you are interviewing with or the client you are wooing) so that I look better than my competitors (the other guy interviewing for the same job or the overseas outsourcing company selling their service)?”

How and where can I develop these skills?

A company is only as good as the people that it employs. And with every company talking about the “War for Talent” realize that they are talking about YOU. You, the individual, are the “Talent” that they are fighting over. But in order to get as many players fighting over you and your skill set, you will need to make a substantial investment in developing your own talents, skills and abilities.

If you want companies to clamor over you, either to hire you as an employee or to take you on as a consultant, invest in developing your skills and abilities.

Don't wait for the Corporate Suits to provide your training. Create your own education and training program and start moving forward today.

Take Command of Your Sales In A Down Economy Through Effective Pipeline Management

2009-02-11T01:53:00.006-05:00

Here is another reprint from the Manta Q and A section. This one addresses effective management of your sales pipeline and how to use their online tool to give you insight into where you should spend your time. Give it a read...

Screen Name: Manta User

Question: How do I manage my sales pipeline effectively?

Manta User,

Effective management of your sales pipeline will depend on your ability to assess your prospect’s mindset and your ability to move them through the various stages of the sales process. If you have you a sales process in place and you have achievable outcomes at the end of each stage, then you can pinpoint exactly where your prospects are in your pipeline. This will give you a better idea of your overall production for the week, month, quarter and year.

There are a couple of tools out there that can integrate with your CRM and give you an overview of your sales efforts. Manta has a facility that allows you to move potential prospects directly from your online research efforts into the first stage of your sales pipe. It also allows you to schedule activities around these prospects and creates a standard ICS file that can integrate into your Google or SalesForce.com calendar. You can find it in the myManta section.

To effectively manage your sales pipeline, you need to realize a few things. First, you can only handle so much at any given time (your “pipe” has a finite capacity). Second, you need to keep moving opportunities through the “pipe” and out the “close” end, (closing the deal). And lastly, you need to keep putting prospects in at the front end (prospecting and lead generation).

Naturally, the better you are at managing your resources (time, money, personal brand, etc…) the more you can handle, increasing the capacity of your “pipe”. But unless you get better at managing your resources and making your “pipe” bigger, stuffing more prospect in at the front end will only result in frustration, not in won opportunities.

In the Manta Pipeline page, the “%close” tab is the sales stage where your particular prospect currently resides. Naturally, when you get them to 100%, the deal has been closed and you have the purchase order in your hand. If you have the majority of your prospects down at the 10% stage, however, it’s going to take some time and effort before you can extract something from the other end of the pipeline.

If you look upon the sales pipeline as a flow characterization, it can give you new insight into your activity management. For example, if you look at your myManta pipeline and see that 75% of your prospects today are at the 50% stage of the pipeline, then you have a better idea of where you need to focus your energy in order to get things moving. It also means that only 25% of your prospects are distributed along the rest of your “pipe”. If you see no prospects at the 10% stage, then you can expect a bubble of zero prospects (AKA a dry spell) to begin moving through your pipe. That’s when it is time to spend time performing lead generation activities.

The sales pipeline is a visual to help you manage your resources and activities against your prospects and clients. To effectively manage your sales pipeline, you will need to 1. Tie your sales activity to a process with discernable stages. 2. Manage your own resources to maximize your capabilities; 3. Monitor the “pipe” constantly and use it as a meter to gauge where to expend your resources and activities. Use the Manta Pipeline utility to manage your prospects as you conduct your research and it will help organize your sales activity for maximum productivity.

The Single Most Important Rule of Sales Negotiation

2009-02-07T18:24:00.006-05:00

Last night, while I was waiting for Battlestar Galactica, I was watching the Rachel Maddow. She was running down the intricacies of this Stimulus Plan and how it had been whittled down from a heavy but some-say-very-much-needed $900B down to a paltry $700B. She also pointed out that the Democrats were the original architects of the bill and in an effort to entice the Republicans, they stuck in a number of juicy tax cuts.

Over the past week, we saw Republicans in the House and the Senate ignore the tax cuts already in place and go straight to the spending side. They argued about big government spending. “Too much pork” they screamed. They pitched fits, waved documents around, had big flip charts, walked out of the room, and voted against the bill en masse to make their point.

A vastly modified and smaller bill is currently being debated in the Senate. As I understand the process, if the current version manages to squeak by, it will have to go back to the House and be bantered about again before some kind of deal gets brokered and this thing moves forward.

Now it doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, a Republican, a Liberal, a Conservative or even a Browncoat. Recognize that there is a wonderful sales lesson you can walk away with.

Tales From The Storage Front

When I was working as a system engineer for an enterprise storage company, my sales rep and I were working on a particularly large deal. After I configured the system, created the proposal and developed the price, she started suggesting…

...Discounts!

Against my recommendation, she went ahead with her standard 10% discount.

When we walked into our client’s office with our proposal, he immediately sharpened his pencil and went to work.

He said that he wanted to take certain things out. He wanted other items cheaper. He said that he could shop around and get the same equipment at a lower cost. He threatened not to buy. He stalled and said he needed to run it by his boss.

After all of his antics, he had this thing cut down to cost.

Needless to say, the sales manager did not sign off on it.

When you walk into your client’s office and you have that new proposal in your hand, count on your client sharpening their pencil and asking for reductions, discounts and preferred rates. And count on them beating you up with your competition. That is why when you are creating your proposal, look for every opportunity to provide unique value. Value that no one else can provide. That way, when they do hit you up with the “I’m gonna check out the competition” tactic, you can counter with, “Go right ahead. They can’t provide you with what we just discussed”.

And never walk in the door with concessions right out of the gate.

Just like my erstwhile sales partner, the Democrats need to come to grips with this very important sales lesson:

Don’t let your first proposed solution lead off with discounts or concessions.

Where Can I Find A New Job?

2009-01-29T15:58:00.007-05:00

I’ve been using the services of the Manta.com business portal for a few months now. And only today did I stumble upon this small fact: They have a national job posting!

Yes, in addition to researching over 61.5 million small and medium businesses and managing your prospects and sales pipeline, you can also see what kinds of jobs are available in your neck of the woods.

Now, if you are in the job market, you can see who’s hiring in your area and research various companies, all from one location. In this economy, it’s always good to keep your options open and use all of the resources at your disposal.

Well, here is one more resource.

How To Make Your Linkedin Profile Friendly to Google

2009-01-09T15:12:00.006-05:00

If you use Linkedin.com to promote your business, your profession, yourself, or if you use it as a sales tool, you may want to think about making your profile more visible to searche engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.

On Sales IT Tech, there is a new "How To" post that shows how making one small adjustment can help increase your profile position for organic searches. Get it here at salesittech.blogspot.com.

Happy Promoting.

Leaving Voicemails -- A Question From The Manta.com Forum

2008-12-30T20:25:00.009-05:00

It's been an interesting year and we have had the good fortune of partnering with outstanding people working at some wonderful companies. One of those partnerships is with the good people at ECNext, the creative minds behind the business portal, Manta.com.

Amongst the Manta community, members have the ability to ask questions regarding sales, small business operations, and management. They can also review prospective companies and update information on their own corporate profiles.

Over the past few months we've seen a host of questions from the Manta community. There's a definite pattern of concern raised by sales peopele on how to increase sales effectiveness--no doubt a direct result from the current economic climate. Here is one of the questions from the community regarding effective use of voicemails:

Screen Name: Manta Member

Question: After leaving 25 voice mails and sending several emails, how do I get a reply from my sales prospect?

Manta Member,

It depends on the timeframe that you have sent these 25 voicemails. If you have made 25 different voicemails over the span of a year, then it’s time to become more aggressive. Increase your calls and mix in some direct mail (email or USPS) along with some personal appearances.

On the other hand, if you left 25 voicemails to the same person within the last week, then you’ve probably moved into the realm of being an annoyance. It’s time to scale back on quantity and focus on quality.

In both cases, knowing what the person wants is crucial. If you don’t know what they want, then your voicemails, as well as your overall sales and marketing effort, will be useless. It’s like shooting arrows at a target that you can’t see and have no idea where it is located.

Once you know what the person wants, then you can use a creative opening that will get their attention. I’ve seen people create out-of-the-box openings that grabbed a client’s attention and yielded a response. I’ve seen sales reps use the curiosity approach effectively and get responses. I’ve seen sales reps leave compelling complements and get responses. The key here is that they all know something about the prospect and they tailored the message to what they wanted. If you are leaving voicemails like I used to: “Hi, my name is Larry Prevost from ABC company. Call me at 408-555-1212”, I can guarantee you that you will not get a response. That’s not a voicemail, that’s a birth announcement. It does nothing for grabbing the client’s attention and there is no compelling reason for them to call you back.

On the other hand, something like, “Bob; 20% of car dealerships won’t weather the current economic crisis. Two of our clients, however, have taken steps that, in the last month, have put them in the top 10% producers nationwide. I’ll call you on Thursday to discuss what they did and see if this will work for you. Larry Prevost, ABC Company, 408-555-1212.” Now, if this is an owner of a car dealership and they have even remotely been following the news, you have their attention, you have their curiosity, and at the very least, they will be expecting your call. On the other end, they may just take it on themselves to call you.

Again, I emphasize that you need to know something about what your prospect wants.

One more point to emphasize. Contact multiple people within the company. If you have them, now is the time to work them. If you don’t have them, now is the time to get some. I can’t tell you how many times that I have had something going with a prospect and everything is going well. Suddenly, all contact with my prospect stops. After leaving 10 to 12 voicemails with my prospect, a call to the gatekeeper or the front desk reveals that my contact has had a stroke [or some other debilitating ailment] and no one knows when, or if, they will be back.

So to recap, make sure that you know something about what your prospect wants, and make sure that you are visible to multiple contacts within the company.

For more information on Manta.com or to become a member, go to Manta.com and create your online account today.

From The Desk of Ed Eppely

2008-12-22T19:35:00.007-05:00

A message from our senior leadership team.

Dear clients and friends,

I think we can all agree that this has been a challenging year for everyone. As the stock market continues to waver, the credit markets remain frozen and the government continues to it's effort to repair the current economic condition, here's what I don't know about the situation confronting our mutual businesses:

I don't know how long the economic uncertainty will last.
I don’t know how well the government's efforts will work.

Here's what I do know:

You can't "expense your way to victory" in soft or declining markets. In fact, most businesses can't cut enough expenses to remain viable in prolonged down markets.
These unusual conditions are forcing companies to make choices about marginal performers that should have been made months or years ago.
Likewise many of these same companies are being forced to decide whether they will operate their business in a manner consistent with their stated values. It’s interesting to see how senior management responds to short-term problems vs. prolonged significant gut-wrenching strife.
Right now we all want leadership from our boss, our spouse, our pastor, priest, rabbi, mullah, governor and president. Employees, vendors and customers want to see the senior management of every company lead their organizations. We all want to know that those in charge have a credible plan to help us navigate these uncertain times.

Having experienced at least three downturns of this kind before, here's what I would tell anyone who asked for my opinion on how to survive and thrive right now.

Make a list of the things you/your department, company or family can control vs. the things you can't.
Set at least 2 quantifiable goals (outcomes with dates) for each thing you can control that when accomplished will make some kind of progress. Then ruthlessly pursue those goals.
Make mistakes of commission, not omission. Swing the bat! Throw caution to the wind. Now more than ever you have to get outside your comfort zone.
Exercise hard at least three times per week. Now more than ever you need to find an emotional release. You'll sleep better, you'll feel better.
Confide in your spouse, seek the counsel of those who have been through tough times. Our significant others want to help us. Give the gift of letting them do so. So often we think the good old days never saw anything like today. Nothing could be further from the truth. Someone smarter than me said many years past, "every generation must beat out anew the truth."

Finally, remember we tend to fear that which we don’t understand. There is a Cycle of Change that every company should explain to their people right now. This Cycle helps people understand what they currently have or what they could experience emotionally. Helping our employees become aware of what they feel doesn't make their emotions go away. But it dramatically changes their attitudes when they learn that it is predictable.

I don't have all the answers. But I do know that these trying times create amazing opportunities for those who fight the right battles and don't fall prey to a victim mentality.

Best wishes to you and your families from all of us at Dale Carnegie of Ohio & Indiana.

Ed Eppley,
Senior Vice President, Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana

DcarnegieTraining is Back Online

2008-12-22T16:29:00.004-05:00

After overcoming some mighty challenges, the team at Dreamhost finally got the dead server replaced and all of the data either restored or transfered to other servers.

This means that our seventh site, DCarnegieTraining, is operational again with all of it's content in place. I'd like to say that we got lucky. But when you dig past luck, you typically find a group of dedicated individuals who work tirelessly and creatively to make things happen.

This event was no different.

They may not face the same physical challenges as the the guys that go out in the cold to repair power lines or the crew that goes out in the middle of the night to repair water mains, but when your infrastructure is down, somebody is under pressure to bring it back up. When you take into account the size of some of these servers, and the complexity of the configurations, you get a better appreciate of what some of these guys have to go through.

So here's to all of the guys in the back office who work tirelessly to keep our front offices running, but typically get no recognition or appreciation for it.

Thanks guys.

Once again, you can access the Dale Carnegie Human Relations Principles here.

Internet Explorer Exploit Update

2008-12-18T22:23:00.000-05:00

Here is an update on the Microsoft Internet Explorer Security exploit mentioned earlier.

If you are running Internet Explorer, you are strongly encouraged to install the patch.

You can find it on the Sales IT Tech blog.

Happy Browsing

Training and Event Updates for December 17 2008

2008-12-17T14:05:00.001-05:00

Have you ever wanted to manage the learning and professional development programs that your members of your team take?

Do your team members undertake various programs and courses to satisfy your in house compliance programs, but you have no idea of who has taken what courses, how far along they are in their certificate programs, or what expertise each member has that the entire group can leverage?

Do you assess the capabilities of your team members on a regular basis as a prerequisite to determining the types of training and coaching that they will need?

These are a few of the questions that we'll be answering in the coming year. Come back to our blog and our sites often. We'll have announcements in the coming weeks regarding these changes.

Meanwhile, here are the program updates for personal management, productivity and communication coaching programs in the Midwest states of Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Central Indiana.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Indianapolis, IN Thu/Fri 1/22-23/09

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Supplemental Events

Coming soon. Stay tuned.

Internet Explorer Exploit

2008-12-17T12:43:00.002-05:00

For all of you sales reps out there.

Just posted about a security hole in Internet Explorer that could leave your system vulnerable to intrusion.

Since most of us use browsers to access our online tools like salesforce.com, linkedin.com and Google Apps, it might be a prudent precaution to stay alert to this security flaw.

Details at Sales IT Tech

System Outage

2008-12-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

I guess it was bound to happen at some point.

One of our web vendors (Dreamhost) had a file/web server blow up making some of our material unavailable (www.dcarnegietraining.com). They are working on replacing the system as we speak.

We’ll keep you posted on when it will be back. More details on Sales IT Tech.

Increase Laptop Security And Peace Of Mind With These 3 Ideas

2008-12-05T09:22:00.001-05:00

Greetings...

Ignorance may be bliss, but it can also be costly and damaging. Second post on laptop and desktop security to prevent the average technical joe from getting access to our sensitive data.

Laptop Security Part 2: Keep Information Private With 3 Simple Technical Adjustments

Change We Can Use

2008-12-01T00:50:00.001-05:00

Greetings!

Yet another change implemented. We have upgraded our look as well as our title.

Email me at larry_prevost@dcarnegietraining.com with your ideas on future developments.

Good Selling.

Tech Ideas for Your Laptop

2008-11-29T16:04:00.000-05:00

Greetings,

Just started a line of posts about laptop security. First 4 tactics for laptop and desktop security. Common sense ideas that are commonly overlooked.

Sales IT Tech: Securely Lock Down Your Laptop With These 4 Simple Tactics.

Dale Carnegie Interpersonal Principles

2008-11-26T01:55:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

Just added a new section onto the dcarnegietraining website that lists all of the interpersonal principles. You will find them here:

Dale Carnegie Principles

The Stress Principles will follow shortly.

Training and Event Updates For November 25 2008

2008-11-25T21:10:00.000-05:00

New look coming after Turkey day.

Meanwhile, here are the program updates for personal management, productivity and communication programs in the Midwest states of Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Central Indiana.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Indianapolis, IN Thu/Fri 1/22-23/09

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Supplemental Events

Coming soon. Stay tuned.

Training and Event Updates for November 20 2008

2008-11-20T09:35:00.000-05:00

Ooops! Had a rather engaging beginning of the week and fell slightly behind in the updates. But we do have some rather exciting things happening here and some really wild things planned for the coming year. So stay tuned. Happy Thursday.

Here are this week's updates for personal management, productivity and communication programs in the Midwest states of Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Central Indiana.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Indianapolis, IN Thu/Fri 1/22-23/09

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Supplemental Events

Coming soon. Stay tuned.

Vote

2008-11-04T09:42:00.002-05:00

Today is the day to place your vote.

Make your voice heard.

Go Make Something Happen!

See the National Results at SalesITTech.

Email Marketing Ideas using Dale Carnegie Principles

2008-10-30T23:43:00.001-04:00

And now that I’ve finished my rant from earlier, here is a useful item that jumped out at me a few days ago.

I’m a big fan of Dan Kennedy. I’ve read many of his books, including his “No BS” series. I’ve found numerous instances of the Dale Carnegie principles in his material; some reworded in a subtle fashion to make his point, while others hit you in the face like a $50 bag of nickels.

In my copious spare time, I’ve been compiling a list of examples of how the Dale Carnegie principles apply to direct marketing using Kennedy’s books as a reference in addition to what we’ve discovered through our own efforts.

I also try to stay updated on stuff happening in the blogosphere. Naturally, I have my Google alerts set to trigger on certain key words (one guess as to what I have as one of those trigger words).

So imagine my surprise when this little gem popped up on my radar. It details how the Dale Carnegie principles can be used in email marketing campaigns and is written by email experts Alex Madison and Lisa Harmon. The authors do emphasize a point that we talk about in our sales programs. That is, “personalize [email] when it adds value…”

All of our business interactions should add value in some way. Just makes good sense.

Anyway, give this gem a read, dust off your copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, and start reapplying the Carnegie principles in your sales and marketing email campaigns.

How to Win Clicks and Influence Subscribers: Adding Value Through Personalized Messaging

Cell Phones. Laptops. Social Networking. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It.

2008-10-30T16:45:00.002-04:00

It inevitably happens in every one of my classes.

At some point in the 12-week program, one or more participants will ask me, “So now I got these ‘tools’ that I can use when I’m working with people. So what? What else can I do with them?”

Sometimes I hear, “My boss sent me to this class because he thought it might help. But I never meet anybody. I sit behind a desk all of the time looking at a computer.”

And of course, there is my personal favorite I hear when I sell the program, “Dale Carnegie is old school. That stuff is outdated. It worked in the last century. We need something new today.”

I find this last one is particularly interesting because I firmly believe that it’s a monster of our own making.

Yes, Dale Carnegie the man started doing his classes back in 1912 and yes the book How to Win Friends and Influence People was first published in 1936. Ninety-six years and going strong. That’s a run to be proud of, for sure. But when I see catalogs that say, “It’s time to replace screen time with face time” it just underscores the belief that we are in a battle against the inexorable march of progress.

Today, people use all sorts of technology to communicate with each other, including computers. But the computer of the 80’s and 90’s is not the same computer we use today, if it can truly be called a computer at all. Back in those days, people used computers to write programs that crunched numbers. The user was truly isolated from everyone and everything else.

Today, people use “laptops” and they use their laptops to make phone calls, play music, create and watch movies, watch television, go shopping, create photo albums, read books and online newspapers, send and receive mail, instant message their friends, join online networks, share music, sell their stuff, conduct presentations, hold meetings, attend classes…

Oh, and sometimes they may even write a program to crunch numbers.

Today, the laptop is one of our primary tools for connecting with other people. However, we still need to understand how to communicate and navigate human relationships, and we need to do this in addition to being skillful in using the technology instead of at its expense.

The Dale Carnegie principles apply to how people interact and communicate with each other. Of course, back in the early 1900s, the only way to do this was in a face to face meeting. Today, however, we have a variety of ways to get our message to other people in addition to face to face meetings, and tomorrow, there will be even more.

Personally, I’m holding out for the holographic generator. I think I’ll be waiting for a couple of years.

We are human beings. We communicate with each other. It’s in our nature.

Today's technology is a fantastic enabler allowing us to do what we do over vast distances, almost instantaneously.

We don’t have to make a tradeoff, especially with the tech that we have today.

So to think that the Dale Carnegie principles are outdated or have no place in today’s tech obsessed society is a misconception. These principles are just as applicable today as they were back in the early 1900s, 1800s, and before. Believing that we have to sacrifice one to use the other is an indication that we, in the training industry, have not done our job in integrating the two, giving our knowledge workers of today a chance to be more productive tomorrow.

So get ready as the team at Tyson Eppley Management begins to explore various ways to integrate the principles that Dale Carnegie compiled back in 1912 with technological advances of today and tomorrow.

Presidential Public Speaking Notes From Denver

2008-10-24T11:09:00.001-04:00

This current presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain is providing a lot of learning material for sales, leadership and especially for public speaking.

I still haven't had an opportunity to review all of my notes for the past two debates. I'll probably have to put together a report when this is all said and done and let everyone just download it from the site.

But my alerts are still working. And apparently I'm not alone in looking at this race through a behavioral performance lens. Here is a little ditty coming all the way from Denver, Colorado entitled "Top 10 Things John McCain Should Really Stop Doing In Public Speaking".

I like what Teague, the author, says about public speaking. He says, "There’s a reason why public speaking is generally feared more than death -- because when it goes badly, death sometimes seems preferable." I'm sure that there have been times when all of us who have ever stood before an audience have said, "you know, I really wish I hadn't done that. Can I please hit the reset button now?"

This is a fairly short read written with a liberal helping of "tongue in cheek", but pay particular attention to the last point. It's the crux of any public speaking event. You have to connect with your own message. If you don't, no one else will connect with you.

Top 10 Things John McCain Should Really Stop Doing In Public Speaking

Secrets to Remembering Names

2008-10-23T02:01:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick post on an article that I found online.

When I teach a class, one of the first things we focus on is developing memory techniques and we apply these techniques to remembering names. No argument that remembering names can be beneficial to your career, especially if you are making a shift into sales or management.

With that, here is a blog post from a lifestyle blog that promotes some of the name remembering techniques we review in our programs. Try these and see what kind of impact they have on your job and your career.

Go get ‘em!

Presidential Interviewing Tips

2008-10-23T01:53:00.000-04:00

OK. Usually I don’t make recommendations about programs.

Having said that, Senator John McCain needs to take the Dale Carnegie High Impact Presentations program.

I just saw a part of John McCain / Sarah Palin interview with Brian Williams.

The one activity I found very distracting was that Senator McCain kept playing with his hands.

I know that some would consider this almost sacrilegious. Afterall, how can I find fault with a U.S. Senator who's had more time speaking on the senate floor than I've been alive (well, almost).

But Senator McCain put his pants on the same way I do: one leg at a time.

And he is doing the same thing I used to do before taking the High Impact Presentations program.

He was fidgeting, playing with his ring, his fingers kept clasping and releasing… It was distracting.

In contrast, Sarah Palin kept her hands still and in her lap. By doing so, she appeared more relaxed and in control than he did.

One of the speaking projects that we work on in the program is how to conduct yourself in interviews with the press, or maybe with a future boss.

Even when you are sitting, you still have to be mindful of what message your physical presence conveys. You have to be mindful of what your hands are doing and what your face is doing.

Here are a few points to consider:

Keep your hands still and in your lap. It’s OK to keep them crossed as long as they are free to be used quickly when you need them. In contrast, clasping them makes it difficult to use them when you need them. And many people will take it as a sign of inward stress.

Keep your facial expressions in check and use them strategically. Is a look of shock a good thing? Depends on the kind of message you want to send. However, most of us aren’t aware of what our face is doing until we see it on a video replay. Overall, a smile will probably work just find to keep things neutral and engaging.

Watch your eye movements. What kind of message does rolling your eyes send? Do you want to send that message? What kind of message does looking up and away from your interviewer send and do you want to send it? Overall, looking at your interviewer is fairly generic, neutral and engaging. Again, many people will assume that diverted eyes convey a lack of truthfulness.

If you want more tips on what to do when you are on the receiving end of an interview, or for that matter on the giving end of an interview, talk to one of our specialists about the High Impact Presentations program. Or create your account on Manta.com and discover how these tips relate to the sales process.

Happy interviewing.

Training and Event Updates for October 21 2008

2008-10-21T21:16:00.003-04:00

As the Presidential campaigns closes in on the finish line, the end of the year looms with the promises of a new year. Start yours off right by identifying your skills and abilities you will need to take on the challenges in the new year.

Here are this week's updates for personal management, productivity and communication programs in the battleground states of Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Central Indiana.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Indianapolis, IN Thu/Fri 1/22-23/09

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Supplemental Events

McGohan Brabender: Negotiation - From Conflict to Collaboration

Columbus, OH with Lance Tyson on Thursday 11/06/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Cold Call to Build New Customers.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 10/24/08

Politics and High Impact Communications

2008-10-17T14:33:00.003-04:00

So, did anyone catch The Late Show last night?

Senator McCain made an appearance on the show after dissin’ Letterman about a month ago when he cancelled his first scheduled appearance.

McCain was good natured and humorous, stating, “I haven't had so much fun since my last interrogation,” when Letterman pressed him on several subjects.

What I found interesting was the Senator’s physical position.

As I viewed the show, I saw Letterman seated at his desk on the right hand side of the screen and Senator McCain seated in the guest chair on the left-hand side of the screen. And the good Senator from Arizona sat primarily on the extreme left-hand side of the chair.

Several times, Senator McCain shifted during the interview, and moved even further into the left-hand corner of the chair away from David Letterman.

So what does this mean?

Well, we don’t know.

We don’t know because no one asked.

This is something that we all have to be mindful of when we are in tough sales situations and we observe behaviors like this.

Our interpretation of these events is more of a statement about our perceptions, our mindset and our attitude, than it is about the actual events or behaviors of the other person.

It would be so easy to make the interpretation that the Senator was trying to “get away” from David Letterman, that he was “afraid” of Letterman, or that he wanted to “put some distance” between himself and Letterman. And I’m willing to bet that there are a few people out there who watched the program and made some of these conclusions.

Just as real, however, is the possibility that his right hamstring was feeling tight and he had to relieve the stress on that leg (been there, done that). Or perhaps he was feeling stress in his neck and had to angle his entire body to face his host.

And because Letterman never inquired, we won’t really know the Senator’s mindset that led to the observed behavior.

With that in mind, as sales people we need to be cognizant of what our clients are doing and subtly ask them, “What does that mean?” when they exhibit overt behavior that we don’t quite understand.

They are communicating with us. They just aren’t using words to do it.

On the flip side, recognize that there are people out there that will immediately jump to interpretation and assume that they know how you are thinking because of your body position and behavior. They won’t stop to be quite so analytical. They will simply interpret your behavior based around their own perceptions, prejudices, and experiences.

You need to be cognizant of how you are using you body to communicate your message to your audiences and clients. If you want to make a presentation with high impact, whether you are in an interview with a talk show host like Senator McCain or delivering a presentation in front of 20,000 people like Senator Obama, you want to be aware of your behavior and take as much control as possible over how your audience interprets your message.

That way, if you happen to find yourself sitting across from Letterman smooshed in one side of the chair, you can say to yourself, “You know, my right leg is feeling a lot better in this position. But I’ve put considerable distance between my host and me. How does this look to the audience I’m playing to? Do they think I'm trying to get away from him?”

So the next time you are in a sales meeting or you are being interviewed, remember that you are communicating, all of the time, even when you don’t use words. Take control of your body actions and take responsibility for the messages that you convey to your audience.

And be sure to ask clarifying questions about their behavior. If you don’t ask, then you will never know.

Improve Your Voicemails And Weather These Tough Economic Times

2008-10-10T14:08:00.000-04:00

Over the past few weeks Iʼve come across an interesting pattern.

We work with the good people at ECNext in Columbus, the creators of the Manta.com portal. From looking at some of the questions that are being asked on their discussion board, it appears that the current economic challenge is on everyoneʼs mind. Everyone appears to be looking for ways to be more effective so that they can get more done (as in selling or writing more) while using up less of their resources (stuff like money and time).

One of the questions that have been getting a lot of play lately, both on the board and in some of our classes, is, "I just left a whole bunch of voicemails. How can I get my prospects to call me back?"

Because much of our community seems to be very interested in this particular line of questioning, I've tapped Lance Tyson, President and CEO of Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio and Indiana, with a crazy idea that will definitely benefit the majority of you sales people out there.

Weʼll be putting out a series of reports that will take on some of the sales challenges that you are seeing out in the field, covering topics that range from securing the appointment to negotiation.

The first one, naturally, will tackle how to leave effective voicemails.

Weʼll target the second week in November for a general release (just after the election for all of you political junkies out there who are counting the days and after our 2-day Marshall Goldsmith seminar).

However, if you want to get a jump on the crowd, send an email to voicemails@dcarnegietraining.com with your name, company, state, phone number and email address and weʼll put you on the list for the pre-release version.

Since this will be a pre-release, we will solicit some of your input (and maybe even some solution-oriented stories) from those of you that participate. Hence the reason for the contact phone number.
You could find your name in lights!

Until that time, good selling.

Palin vs Biden Debate Provides Sales Insights

2008-10-03T23:05:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, the Vice Presidential candidates had their first, last and only debate televised.

I was fully expecting this to be a slugfest with lots of venom exchanged. By the time I picked up my six-pack and pizza, I had envisioned this debate to be a cross between a Rocky Balboa – Clubber Lang boxing match and a really bad marriage counseling session.

So when the debate began, I was heartened when the two candidates came out, shook hands and amidst the applause, Palin asked the question, “Can I call you Joe?” I decided to hold off on the beer part and just take in the election for a couple of reasons.

First, I usually cycle between four channels on these things: CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and CSPAN. But when I first tuned in, I hit CNN and noticed the “acceptance meter” at the bottom of the screen. I remembered that they had used this same technology in the first debate to get a read from a group of undecided voters down in Columbus, OH. CNN had segmented this focus group into men and women and you could watch the two lines track the candidates in real time. Since none of the other channels was using this kind of technology, I decided to let CNN ride.

Second, because of this real time technology, I figured this would be a great opportunity to tie in what the speakers were saying with how the audience was reacting. Typically, when we are standing in front of a group delivering a presentation, we have the advantage of watching the audience’s reaction to what we say and what we do. When our performance is broadcast over the airwaves, we don’t have that advantage and it’s unfortunate that the candidates didn’t have visibility into the “acceptance meter”. I’m sure they would have adjusted their performance if they did. But they didn’t have it, we did and it proved very informational.

Third, because of my past associations with Neuro Linguistic Programming and the speaking programs that we put on, I wanted to see the impact that certain kinds of activities from the candidates would have on the focus group.

As I said, it was a very informational night. Some of what I saw and heard last night is detailed below and I try to relate it to some of what we teach in our speaking classes and what was obtained from my studies of NLP. Thing to remember is that while this is a debate, it is also a sales presentation. The two candidates are out there standing side by side making one of the biggest sales pitches in their lives and they are selling an intangible product. If you are a sales person, when was the last time you had to make your sales presentation with your competition standing about 15 feet away from you ready to counter your every statement? That can be a rather humbling experience.

Anyway, here is a synopsis of what I saw last night.

Solutions vs. Problems

One of the first things that I noticed for both candidates was that when they talked about solutions and possible outcomes, the two lines went up. When they started talking about the bad news, the meters started heading south. When the finger pointing, blaming and attacking started, the meter took a nosedive. Lesson here, people are tired of the finger pointing and the blaming. They want to hear about solutions. And leaders talk about solutions and a vision for where they want to take their team. This is also a classic sales-presentation strategy. Talk about the current situation with your client and highlight the pieces that cause them severe dissatisfaction with where they are currently. After they feel the true ramifications of their current situation, talk about a future state where the problem has been solved and they are feeling pretty good. Then, help them bridge that gap by showing them how your solution can help them get from where they are feeling pretty bad to where they want to go and feel pretty good. Attacking and blaming, however, will probably get you ushered out the door sooner than you would like.

The Cushion

Both candidates made too few uses of cushions. A cushion is an unflavored method of acknowledging the other party. Both candidates were given opportunities to offer a rebuttal to the other’s statements and claims. I heard lots of,“that’s not true”. I heard some, “Can I address that”. And I even heard a “Yes, but”. A generic type of cushion to use in a situation like this would be something like, “I can appreciate your position” or “I can appreciate your views”, or “I can appreciate where you are coming from.” Both candidates did use this type of cushion in the debate. They could have used it a lot more. That “acceptance meter” lines could have shot up a lot faster if they had used these cushions instead of, “Yes, but…”

The next time you are in a sales situation and you client says, “You know, ABC company makes a 9.1 Gigawatt flux capacitor”, instead of reacting with, “Yes, but ours goes up to 10!” try saying, “I can appreciate that. What are you going to do with all that power?” You’ll keep them talking and their “acceptance meter” won’t tank.

Don’t Back Your Client Into A Corner

Another point that hit me. Refrain from being directly confrontational. One of the notable points of the debate was when Governor Palin commented that she may not answer the question the way Senator Biden or the moderator wanted, but she was going to talk directly to the American people. She not only challenged her competition at that point, but she also challenged the moderator. Now I’m sure that there was a blinking light somewhere that indicated when the speaker’s time was running low and when they had to stop. And I’m sure that the moderator, Gwen Ifill, was lenient in giving the speakers a few more seconds to wrap things up. But this exchange was the one and only time, during the entire 90 minutes, that I heard Gwen Ifill say; “Your time is up”.

This goes back to some of the basic human-relations principles, like not telling a person that they are wrong and allowing them to save face. Refrain from backing your client, or the moderator, into a corner where they have to attack in order to get out just to maintain their stature. You have ideas, they have ideas, and not everyone is going to agree on everything. However, we can, agree to disagree while maintaining respect for each other’s points of view. If you put your client in a position where they feel like they need to defend themselves or they need to reassert themselves, they will do so and nobody wins. You may win the fight, but you won’t win their respect or their hearts.

Vocal Tonality

Both candidates had times where they weren’t using the entire range of their voice, and they had times when they used vocal modulation to incite drama in their presentation. In instances when the candidates modulated their vocal tone, the “acceptance meter” went north indicating a favorable response. When their voice took on a harder tone, or when they spoke to quickly, the meter went flat. Lesson here is that there is more to your message than just the words. Use your voice to put some drama in your sales presentation and get your client’s acceptance meter heading north.

Meet Your People Where They Are

There were several times when Governor Palin just flat out said that she was going to talk about energy or taxes and not deal with the topic on the table. It shows feistiness, and if you try it in your sales presentation, your client will toss you out the door. There are ways to make the transition. But to just tell your client, or the moderator, that you want to go back to discuss the topic that you feel comfortable with is an indication of your lack of preparation and your inflexibility. A good strategy here would be for you to acknowledge the topic, or the objection, and then show how that affects the point that you REALLY want to discuss… and then you go off on a tear.

This is called pacing and leading. Start with where your client is, match their demeanor, attitude, physical stance, breathing… and only when you have rapport can you lead them to a different place.

Using Facial Expressions and Congruency

When you are sitting down in an interview, or you are in a televised debate, you have limited ability to move around. You have limited ability to move your hands and to move your body. In these instances, you need to use your facial expressions and your vocal tonality to relay your drama. I noticed a lot of this in Senator Biden. I never knew that the human forehead could have so many wrinkles. If you looked at his forehead and his eyes, you could see when the muscles around his eyes relaxed. You could see when his gaze softened when he spoke about his early challenges and the accident that claimed the life of his wife and child. You could tell when he was taking a hard stance on foreign policy by watching the tension in his face from the eyes up. It was very visible. And it displayed his congruency with his message. When you heard the tone matching what you saw it in his facial expressions, you could see the acceptance meter going up

And speaking about facial expressions, smiling is key. For the most part, when both candidates smiled, the meter started going up. When both candidates had a more stern expression, the meter dropped. But there is a small caveat here about congruency.

If you are talking about bad news and you are smiling, your client will wonder if you are secretly reveling in their problem. Maintain congruency. Speak from your heart and you won’t have to worry if your physical responses are matching your verbal responses.

That’s all for now. Next debate will be between the two presidential candidates on October 7. We’ll see what tidbits we can glean from that event. I’ll be twittering as the debate happens. Send me your twitter responses and let me know what you see.

What Got You Here Wont Get You There

2008-10-01T17:46:00.002-04:00

Whenever I take a trip out west, I try to get some camping in. Joshua Tree National Park is a wonderful place to pitch the tent for a couple of nights and just marvel in splendors of the high desert. During this last trip, I was faced with a rather unique opportunity and a very insightful event.

Before heading out to the desert, I stopped by to visit with my sister in Los Angeles. While there, I picked up Marshall Goldsmith’s book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. I figured I had a few days to kill before heading out to the desert and we would be conducting the two-day seminar in the near future. So I might as well read what Goldsmith was teaching in his programs and discover the similarities to what we coach for in our classes.

The book is an easy read and I got through all of Marshall’s 21 habits and some of the solutions before I had to leave Los Angeles for the desert. While reading the book, I did notice that the 21 habits that Goldsmith talks about are surprisingly similar to the human relations principles that we coach for in our classes.

After the 4-hour drive from Los Angeles, I arrived at Joshua Tree National Park. It was just after 6:00 PM when I arrived. Coupled with the fact that it was now mid-September, I realized that I had a very limited amount of usable daylight to get the campsite set up. So without hesitation, I located a suitable site, unpacked the equipment, stretched everything out and immediately began to pitch the tent.

As I was setting up the tent, a woman from the next campsite next to mine passed by and introduced herself as Loretta. She then started making small talk, asking where I was from, what I did for a living and talking about what it was like living in the high desert. While I was conversing with her, I noticed something about myself. In spite of conversing with Loretta, my mind kept getting pulled back to the idea that I needed to get the tent set up before dusk. In fact, I couldn’t get away from that thought. I needed to get the tent set up before dusk.

After about 15 minutes of conversing with Loretta, she moved on down the dirt road to her original destination and I began the task of setting up the tent once again.

It’s a simple dome tent, and the instructions recommend two people to make it easy. But a single person can set it up with a little patience and a whole lot of agility.

After about 20 minutes, Loretta’s husband, John, peeked over from the neighboring campsite and introduced himself. He made small talk and asked where I was from, explained that he and his wife were up just to picnic and watch the moonrise. Of course, I conversed with him, but again, that single dominant thought that I needed to get the tent set up permeated my mind.

John asked if I needed anything or if I needed any help in setting up the tent. Of course, I said thanks but that it was pretty simple to set up so I didn’t want to impose. He also asked if I needed any food or water, or maybe even a beer. Again, I politely declined stating that I had everything and that I didn’t want to impose.

45 minutes later, I had the satisfaction of having the tent and the campsite set up and it was all done before dusk.

As I sat there eating dried beef and drinking bottled water, I had a discomforting thought. My mind turned back to Marshall’s Goldsmith’s book and I found myself guilty of falling prey to the 21st habit of success. I had been too goal oriented.

Goldsmith credits this habit of being the root cause of all of the habits that impede your progress. There is nothing wrong with being goal oriented. In fact, it probably plays an important role in helping successful people get to where they are today. The challenge arises when it becomes a habit, a unit of behavior and thought processes that gets put into play automatically.

I was in no danger of not getting the tent set up. John had even offered his assistance. But somewhere in my past, the behavioral pattern of being goal oriented had been established and I had been successful in using it. So here I am in the high desert, using the habit of being goal oriented to pitch a tent. And I was successful in getting it set up before dusk.

But at what price?

Here was an excellent opportunity to find out how the local townspeople lived. I had the opportunity to discover what brought them to these communities, why they stayed, what kind of industry was in the area, and to discover what their thoughts, hopes and dreams were. I could have spent time conversing with Loretta and John, sharing in their fire and they would have helped set my tent up before nightfall.

But none of this happened because I was to goal oriented.

If you have been in your career for any length of time, chances are that you have employed the habit of being goal-oriented to get things accomplished. My question is this: by becoming goal-oriented and allowing this behavior to become a habit, what are you missing out on? What new ideas and opportunities are you missing because you are so focused on achieving your goal?

There are 20 other habits listed in Marshall Goldsmith’s book. Which of the other habits have helped to get you where you are today but are now impeding your progress? Read the book to discover the other 20 habits and discover why they won’t help you get to where you want to go tomorrow.

Training and Event Updates for September 23 2008

2008-09-23T23:55:00.000-04:00

Back from the trip out west. Some of the insights from the trip will undoubtedly make their way into the blog and into some of the classes. So keep your feed channel tuned to this station (or sign up for automatic email updates on the side bar).

Meanwhile, here are this week's updates for performance programs in the Ohio Valley area.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Columbus, OH Thu/Fri 10/9-10/08

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Supplemental Events

Drill, Baby, Drill

2008-09-18T12:09:00.001-04:00

Here is another quick observation before I hit the road again.

While watching the RNC, I noticed that the phrase “Drill, Baby, Drill” had become the mantra of the convention and now it is the Republican Party’s slogan.

I also noticed that both candidates, McCain and Obama now support offshore drilling and talk about reducing our dependency on foreign oil.

They also mention alternative sources for energy like wind, solar and nuclear all in the same, rushed sentence.

I've always wondered, what would happen if they took the word "foreign" out of their rhetoric?

Instead, what if our candidates talked about reducing our dependency on... oil?

Even in politics, real change is dependent on the types of questions we ask our team members and ourselves because the questions we ask determine the answers that we find.

For instance, while driving down the south side of Joshua Tree National Park, along I-10 in California, I came across a windmill farm.

Only this wasn't the typical windmill farm with 20 to 30 windmills.

No, while our presidential candidates have only recently been talking about the need to explore wind as a source of energy, someone a while back had decided to take matters into their own hands and explore an opportunity.

They created what appears to be the largest windmill orchard in the world.

There are rows of these windmills, stretched as far as the eye can see, busily converting the high winds of the area into usable electricity.

Somehow, I don't think the team that created this energy orchard, sat around and said, "Hmm, I wonder how we can reduce our dependency on foreign oil?"

The team probably started off with a question like, "What if we could generate a substantial amount of electricity from the high winds that blow through this area?"

These types of question are classified as a possibility question and are useful for looking forward into creating possible futures.

But these guys didn't stop there.

After that, they probably asked, "How can we create a device for converting wind into electrical energy? What would such a device look like? In what way can we use the materials that we have to create a device powered by the wind and will supply 25% to 30% of our current electrical needs?"

These kinds of questions are process questions. They focus on processes and activities and are very useful for getting things done.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the team that created this windmill farm probably called Ed Eppley out to conduct one of his famous green-light brainstorming sessions before beginning that project.

A great scientist named Einstein once said, "The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them."

We currently face some of the biggest challenges of this century, not just as a nation, but in our corporations as well as on a personal level. We won't solve them using the same thinking strategies that got us to where we are today. In order to address the new challenges, we need to employ new thinking strategies, ask some different questions and do something totally different.

Because, again, to paraphrase Einstein, “Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

It’s time for something new in your business and your life. Get started by asking some new and different questions.

Training Events and Updates for September 16 2008

2008-09-15T15:36:00.002-04:00

Follow the adventure on Twitter.

Traveling East along I-10 in CA through the land of the Joshua Trees. A few days here will give me an opportunity to finish Marshall Goldsmith's book, "What Got You Here Won't Get You There". The habits are straightforward and easy to understand. As usual, it's not the knowledge that the challenge, it's acting on that knowledge.

Based on what I've read so far, would highly recommend the book for anyone who has attained a certain level of technical prowess in their job but are finding that the biggest hindrance in career advancement is in their behavioral habits. Amazingly, the habits that have helped us succeed so far are probably the ones that are now preventing us from advancing.

Of course if you are more interested in making something happen, take the 2 day program performed by Ed Eppley.

Here are this week's updates for performance programs in the Ohio Valley area.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Columbus, OH Thu/Fri 10/9-10/08

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Supplemental Events

The Marshall Goldsmith Seminar: What Got You Here Won't Get You There..

Columbus, OH with Ed Eppley on Wed 10/01/08 and Thu 10/02/08

McGohan Brabender: Negotiation - From Conflict to Collaboration

Dayton, OH with Lance Tyson on Thursday 10/02/08

McGohan Brabender: Planning and Execution

Columbus, OH with Ed Eppley on Thursday 9/18/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Keep Your Staff Engaged, Energized & Motivated.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 9/26/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Cold Call to Build New Customers.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 10/24/08

Speed Your Way to Success

2008-09-15T02:22:00.000-04:00

OK. Here is another quick observation.

While travelling west on I80 coming out of Donner Pass, I got ensnared in trap, a speed trap.

Well, maybe ensnared is not quite the right word.

I-80 coming through the Pass from NV into CA is really twisty and steep. My trunk was full of stuff, which made the rear of the car a little heavier than usual. So coming down that pass and making those turns, well, I had to slow down a lot in order to keep my car from fishtailing.

So while I’m trying to keep the rear of my car from swinging back and forth wildly, I watched a whole bunch of other cars zip right by me taking the turns like Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Just as I get to the bottom and rounded the last turn, I spotted one of California’s finest lecturing one of the motorists that had passed me up (ok, actually, the CHP was writing out a citation).

As I drove a little further, I noticed a few more patrol cars had paired off with other motorists who had zipped by me.

And that was when I noticed them.

An army of CHP cars, all lined up along the side of the road like jets on a runway waiting for their turn to take off.

If I had to venture a guess as to how many were there, I’d have to say all of them.

These guys were organized, they had their act together, and they were writing out citations faster than Michael Phelps handing out autographs after his historic swim at the Beijing Olympics.

This thing was extremely well organized and executed.

Very much like the speed trap I saw in MO when I picked up I-40 just outside St. Louis.

Same strategy as used by the CHP. Missouri's finest lined up on the side of the road, taking turns snagging the motorists who did not notice the one lone peace officer with the radar gun targeting everyone coming up on I-40 and radioing the intel to his buddies.

So what am I saying here, that success is tied to observing and obeying the traffic laws?

Well, you certainly won't make any money if you are wasting it on your lead feet.

But consider this. In both cases, these patrol officers were organized. By working together and getting the right people on the team, they caught a lot more zippy motorist than if each one had worked alone or if they just quickly threw a bunch of the office staff together.

The speed trap would have been ineffective had some patrol cars been pointing south while others were pointing north. It would not have been effective if the “meter maids” in those little golf carts were a part of the team chasing down motorist blasting down the road at 75MPH.

No, someone had decided what the objectives were, the best place to hold this “event”, who should be a part of this event and what part everyone would play in order to achieve maximum effectiveness.

You need to do the same thing in arranging your resources to attain maximum effectiveness in achieving your goals and objectives.

Like the speed trap, you have many resources that are available to you. You have people that you can leverage and make part of your mastermind team. You have hard resources like money and time. And you have personal resources like skills, talents, knowledge and past experiences.

Too often we think of resources as things like money, tangible assets and time. These are things that we can measure, see and touch.

Rarely do we ever consider our skills, talents and especially our experiences as assets. After all, there is no effective way to measure them.

And rarely do we effectively leverage our human capital. Instead of collaborate with people and looking for mutual benefit for both parties, we often look for ways to “get something from them” or “how to effectively ‘utilize’ them”.

But just because we can’t measure these resources doesn’t negate their existence or their effect on our inner processes and the outer world.

And if we don’t partner with our mastermind team, we run the risk of alienating the very people who can help us in our quest.

Because we rarely organize these non-tangible resources, the ones that stand to make the biggest impact, are left scattered, ill used and probably doing more to hinder us in achieving our outcome.

In order to maximize your personal effectiveness, you need to first know what you are trying to achieve. Then you need to know what your resources are, which ones to actually use in your endeavor, and how to organize these resources to insure that you move towards achieving your outcome.

If you can identify and organize your resources, you will get a lot further on the road to reaching your goal than if you just threw everything together and let the chips fall where they may.

Bottom line, if you want to catch more of the opportunities that are zipping by you, learn to identify and organize all of your resources that can help you achieve your outcomes. Once you have them organized for maximum effectiveness, achieving your outcomes will be quick and easy.

Secret Element for Success

2008-09-10T13:00:00.002-04:00

While traveling through WY, I stopped at the first US National Monument, the Devil’s Tower.

Some of you may remember this artifact from Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Richard Dreyfuss.

There are a number of trails in the area, one of them encircling the base of the Tower.

While hiking around this trail, I came across several climbers scaling the side of the Tower.

As I looked up, an old worn phrase came to mind: “It’s lonely at the top.”

In the past, I’ve always taken this to mean that to get to the top, you had to sacrifice your relationships, be ruthless and step on the bodies left in the wake of your quest to be successful.

In short no lasting friendships. Only shallow relationships and business acquaintances.

After looking at these climbers as they scaled to the top, I had a different view of this phrase, effectively reframing it to mean something new.

These climbers weren’t mavericks or cowboys. They didn’t try to do it on their own, go it alone, or step on each other on the way up.

They helped one another.

At any given time, the person doing the climbing had someone at the bottom giving encouragement and feeding the line, and someone at the top, giving encouragement and holding the line, both giving support in every sense of the word.

But the climber ultimately had to make the climb themselves. No one was going to pull them up, no one was going to get under the climber and push them up. Their team could provide assistance, support and encouragement, but ultimately, the individual had to make their own effort.

I doubt that any of them said, “Well, I really would like to get to the top, but I’m kind of tired and out of shape. Why don’t you guys pull me up?” And I seriously doubt that any one of them got halfway up and said, “OK. I’m kind of tired now. I have had enough. I want to go home now.”

Reaching the top and being successful has less to do with stepping on bodies and destroying relationships and more with a personal vision and a strong commitment to reaching your goal. Those climbers were getting to the top because they wanted it. They owned it.

Yet, on any given night, you can find at least 10 infomercials on TV that expound on systems for getting rich or losing weight. Just follow these steps, do what everyone else has done and you can be richer than Trump with a body like Schwarzenegger.

Sounds simple enough. And that is why many people will buy these programs. They are looking for a quick fix or a magic bullet to make success easy. They will go through the motions of the program with no passion or commitment. And when they fail to produce the desired results using the program, they shelve the DVDs, use the exercise equipment to hold clothes, and state that the system is nothing but a gimmick.

The reason it’s lonely at the top? It is lonely at the top because many people have not taken the time to decide what they want, create a vision for their life and devise a plan on how to get to that point.

If you really want to be successful, sit down one Saturday morning and write down all of the things that are really important in your life and create a vision for your life that encompasses those things.

Many people can make suggestions and offer their help. And some will even try to tell you what you should be doing with your life and what you need to do to be successful.

But the only person who can decide what you want for your life, is you. Might as well get started. Looks like it can be a long climb up to the top.

Twitter Is Not Just For The Birds

2008-09-03T12:56:00.001-04:00

Have you ever been to a seminar and wished you could have gotten inside the presenter’s head before the seminar to understand how they came up with these groundbreaking ideas?

Ever wished you could have gotten a heads up on a particular event before the event was “formally announced”?

Have you ever wanted to be a “fly on the wall” of your mentor or personal coach just to see their thoughts and ideas without spending a bunch of time physically chasing them around?

Now you can! With Twitter, now you can follow our team without leaving the comfort of your own chair and discover some of their thoughts, insights and inspirations as they happen.

Simply visit our site http://www.dcarnegietraining.com/ and look at the About Us -> Trainers & Consultants menu. From there, you can click on any picture of our team members and gain access to their profile.

At the bottom of their profile, you will find a Twitter window into their latest thoughts or revelations. Click on the small link below the window and you can dive deeper and get more history.

Be a little patient. You won’t find our entire team on Twitter just yet. But over the next few months, our instructors and top sales consultants will find their footing on the new media. And as this occurs, you will discover that this provides you with an unprecedented advantage in connecting with your sales reps, your instructors and your personal coaches.

Happy twittering!

Training and Event Updates for August 26 2008

2008-08-26T00:21:00.000-04:00

After a glorious 2 weeks, the Olympic Torch has been extinguished until 2012 when it will burn in London. The Republican and Democratic Conventions are now taking over video coverage. Personally I'd prefer to have one more week of athletic competition.

Anyway, here are this week's updates for personal performance programs in the Ohio Valley area.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Columbus, OH Thu/Fri 9/18-19/08

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Indianapolis, IN Thursday/Friday 10/2-3/08
Cincinnati, OH Tue/Wed 9/30/08 and 10/01/08
Dublin, OH Thur/Fri 10/23-24/08
Cleveland, OH Tue/Wed 11/04-05/08

Supplemental Events

The Marshall Goldsmith Seminar: What Got You Here Won't Get You There..

Columbus, OH with Ed Eppley on Wed 10/01/08 and Thu 10/02/08

McGohan Brabender: Recruiting & Hiring Sales Talent

Cincinnati, OH with Lance Tyson on Tuesday 9/09/08

McGohan Brabender: Negotiation - From Conflict to Collaboration

Dayton, OH with Lance Tyson on Thursday 10/02/08

McGohan Brabender: Planning and Execution

Columbus, OH with Ed Eppley on Thursday 9/18/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Keep Your Staff Engaged, Energized & Motivated.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 9/26/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Cold Call to Build New Customers.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 10/24/08

6 Requirements For Building Any Team.

2008-08-24T21:07:00.003-04:00

A few days ago, the track and field action for the Americans was fairly dismal.

First American hopeful Lolo Jones hit a hurdle at the 100m hurdles. It was enough to throw her off balance and slow her down just enough to take her out of first place and dump her into 7th.

Then we watched Sanya Richards, the favored in the Women’s 400m, loose steam as she came to the end. While she said her hamstring tightened up halfway through the race, it looked more like someone tossed her a piano, and she tried to carry it to the finish line.

That piano was making the rounds that night because Jeremy Wariner, the favored in the Men’s 400m, ran the last 100 meters of the race as if he was dragging a boat anchor.

But hey, these are the Olympic Games held once every four years, and Murphy is always out hunting for victims. If anything can happen, you can count on it happening and at the worst possible moment. The only thing you can do is to try to be prepared for it.

You have to be prepared if you happen to eat something that you aren’t accustomed to and it puts you out of commission for 2 days. You have to be ready if a stray flu bug happens to nest in your lungs and leave you with a fever for 3 days. You have to be ready if jet lag and lack of sleep disrupts your schedule.

Stuff happens. You try to do everything to maintain your schedule and your routine. But there will always be stuff that you can’t control. And sometimes it takes you out of play.

So you focus and work on the things that you can control. Like passing the baton!

The two events that the American teams were heavily favored to take were the Men’s 4 X 100m relay and the Women’s 4 X 100m relay. Yet, both teams failed to make it past their qualifying rounds. They didn’t just miss the required time, they were disqualified because of bad baton passing between the 3rd and the 4th leg of the race. They “dropped the ball”.

All members of both relay teams are extremely good at what they do. They run “real fast”. But the relay team depends on all members working in conjunction with each other.

And in order to work well together when it counts, you need to practice as a team. Both of these “teams” looked like they had no time to work together as a team.

In every team sport, there needs to be some team practice to make all of the parts work together well. In these shorter races, it’s exceptionally important to shave off every last bit of overhead in passing the baton so that the team can squeeze out its fastest performance. Anyone who has participated in any kind of relay event knows that there are all kinds of things that you need to keep track of to get that baton transferred within the zone as smoothly and quickly as possible. You can’t just throw four exceptional performers together and expect smooth transitions, a world record time, and a gold medal.

Yet it appeared to be what the team and coaches attempted in the 4 X 100m relay races.

What are some of the ingredients needed to make a good relay team? Probably some of the same ingredients needed to make any good corporate team.

Individual talent. You need some raw material to work with and that comes from the individual.

Individual direction. In his book, “Good to Great”, Jim Collins talks about getting everybody on the bus. The individual’s goals and direction has to be aligned with the group’s goals, but the individual has to be the owner. The individual contributor can’t say, “Yes I believe in what the team stands for” when they really just want to be accepted into the group so they can leverage the relationship for their own hidden agenda.

Communication. Team members need to communicate between themselves.

Practice time working together. Time together under a variety of circumstances gives each member the ability to know and understand the strengths and limitations of their teammates and to adjust their own game accordingly.

A common goal. There has to be a reason for the team to exist. Even people who get together once a week to have coffee have a reason for getting together.

A hearty desire to reach the common goal.

There are others factors that come into play naturally. But if you want to see what a team looks like when all of these pieces come together, just look at the Women’s Beach Volleyball team of Misty May and Kerry Walsh.

Individually, they know what their strengths are and what they want.

They use a variety of communication techniques.

They have over 10 years together as a team practicing under all kinds of conditions.

They have a seriously competitive spirit and a strong desire to win.

The result?

108 consecutive wins and two consecutive Olympic Gold Medal wins.

Nuff Said!

I'm Too Old For This

2008-08-20T11:56:00.008-04:00

In my last post, I wrote about Constantina Tomescu-Dita winning the Women’s Marathon in the 2008 Olympic Games.

What I failed to mention was that she was 38 years young when she did it!

In a venue where the young have the edge, collect medals like candy and blast world records into oblivion, Tomescu-Dita won the race by a hefty margin.

That should come as no shock. The marathon is one of those events where contestants get better as they get older. It takes a little bit of time to develop the stamina needed to maintain a steady pace for two (or more) hours. And because the race is so long, the best runners have the experience and wisdom to run a strategic race instead of just a tactical one.

So how do you explain Dara Torres, Silver Medallist in the 50m Splash and Dash?

This is Dara’s 5th Olympic experience. She is 41 years old and she competed against women who were probably young enough to be her daughter. In an event that is supposed to favor the strength, power and speed of the young, Dara jumped into the pool and proceeded to show everyone "who’s the boss".

In an interview after the race, Dara’s parting advice was, “…don’t put an age limit on your dreams.”

She’s right. Too often, I’ve heard people say, “I’m too old to [fill in the blank]”, or “It’s too late for me to [fill in the blank]”. Some of them were even in a couple of my classes!

You will face some challenges. There will be some events that stand in your way. That’s all a part of life. But the only thing that really stops you from reaching your goal, is you.

Age does play a factor in physical and mental performance. However, the more important factor at play here is the attitude of the performer. As I was telling my buddy Mike, “It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way to get the job done.”

But don't take my word for it. Go ask Torres.

Less than 10 minutes after receiving her Silver Medal in the 50m Freestyle Sprint, she was back in the water to anchor her team in the Women’s 100m Medley Relay.

They took the Silver!

Who’s Your Mama?

Quote for August 19 2008

2008-08-19T01:32:00.002-04:00

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Secret To Success Is Simply Running Your Own Race

2008-08-18T14:28:00.011-04:00

Well, it’s good to be back in the saddle. Although I must confess that I have been captivated by the Summer Olympic Games (and a couple of other projects to boot).

As with the past summer and winter games, these are proving to be quite exciting. Being somewhat enamoured with endurance sports, I typically wait until the second half of the summer program for the track and field events, in particular, the women’s and men’s marathons.

This past Sunday morning, or Saturday evening for us on the East Coast, saw the running of the Women’s marathon. It started out at a fairly pedestrian pace with no real leader emerging to take charge. Mind you, a pedestrian pace for these women is more like a killer pace for part-time athletes, weekend warriors, and us mere mortals. Only about halfway through the race did we see someone take a risk and step forward.

Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania separated herself from the group and over the course of the race, succeeded in putting a minute between herself and the rest of the lead pack. Even when there were only 5 miles left in the race, no one in the lead pack stepped forward and said, “Hey, we need to turn this into a race and catch the leader.” It was as if everyone was expecting Tomescu-Dita to blow up and fall out of the race. After all, she's done that in some of her past races.

But not this day and not this race.

After all, these are the Olympic games where once every 4 years, the world’s best athletes get together to compete and discover who is actually the best athlete that day.

So you steel yourself against the discomfort and pain, and you take a chance with the stuff that you have.

On Sunday, it was Tomescu-Dita, who assessed her resources, took a chance, ran her race and ran away with the gold.

Kind of like life.

So many people get tangled up in the belief that if you do what other people are doing then you will be successful. So they suppress their own gifts and talents and try to follow a formula for success. In the process, they turn into a robot and blend into the rest of the background business machinery.

They end up running in the pack, waiting for something to happen. They wait for somebody to rescue them, that big break that’s due, or that one big client that’s going to put them on the map.

They wait for the economy to turn up, their business partners to get on board, the right business conditions to happen, or to get everything else in their life fixed up.

And sometimes, they wait for someone else to take the lead, tell them what they should be doing and that it’s time to get going.

All the while, they never assess their own strengths, resources and capabilities. They never look at the environmental conditions for themselves. They never trust their own instincts. And they never take the big risks that will produce the life changing results that they keep expecting.

Constantina didn’t wait. She took a chance, took off, and took the prize that all of the other runners dreamt about but weren’t willing to leave the comfort of the pack to make happen.

Don’t wait for your dream to come to you. If you want to win big, you have to play big.

Go make it happen.

Training and Event Updates for August 11 2008

2008-08-12T11:42:00.004-04:00

After a rousing motivational effort from the Men's Gymnastic Team, here are this week's updates for personal performance programs in the Ohio Valley area.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Indianapolis, IN Thursday/Friday 8/21-22/08 (7 seats left)
Cincinnati, OH Tue/Wed 9/30/08 and 10/01/08
Dublin, OH Thur/Fri 10/23-24/08
Cleveland, OH Tue/Wed 11/04-05/08

Supplemental Events

The Marshall Goldsmith Seminar: What Got You Here Won't Get You There..

Columbus, OH with Ed Eppley on Wed 10/01/08 and Thu 10/02/08

McGohan Brabender: Planning and Execution

Cincinnati, OH with Ed Eppley on Tuesday 8/05/08

McGohan Brabender: Negotiation - From Conflict to Collaboration

Dayton, OH with Lance Tyson on Thursday 10/02/08

McGohan Brabender: Planning and Execution

Columbus, OH with Ed Eppley on Thursday 9/18/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Keep Your Staff Engaged, Energized & Motivated.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 9/26/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Cold Call to Build New Customers.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 10/24/08

A Secret For Managing your Time

2008-08-07T23:30:00.004-04:00

Two nights ago, I was digging through a box of old junk, searching for an item for a Dale class starting on the 27 of this month. While doing so, I came across my personal copy of Super Self, Doubling Your Personal Effectiveness, a book written and published by Charles Givens back in 1993.

As I thumbed through the pages and perused the content, I could easily identify all of the points I had considered important back then by the marked up pages, the notes in the sidelines and the highlighted text. Some of what I had identified back then seems to be common knowledge in today’s environment. Some of it, however, just seemed irrelevant for the times that we live in now and the information we have concerning human behavior and performance development.

Nevertheless, I was amazed at some of Givens’ insights and the observations.

For example, Givens wrote about strategies to control your time. Hey, it’s your life and your time. Why not take control of it. But to do that, we need to first know what we are currently doing with it.

Givens started with the basic assumption that everyone has the same number of hours per week, 24 hours a day for 7 days giving 168 hours a week.

He then goes on and starts subtracting time for the mundane but necessary activities that we need to do. For example, he assumes that the average person sleeps 8 hours a night. Personally, I think that number is way to high, but lets say it's right for now. That comes out to 56 hours out of that 168 leaving 112 hours in the week to get things done.

Then he assumes that it will take the average person about an hour in the morning to get prepped for the day. That is from the time the opportunity clock goes off to the time we get our bodies out the door. For those of you with children, it will take a little longer. But for the sake of argument, we’ll hold to an hour to shower, shave, brush the teeth, comb the hair, eat breakfast and find the keys.

He also assumes that the average person will take about 30 minutes to rewind the process at the end of the day before going to bed. That amounts to 1.5 hours for 7 days, or 10.5 hours out of the week.

If we take out those 10.5 hours, we are left with 101.5 hours out of the week.

Then there is the commute to and from work. Givens assigns 45 minutes to a one way trip or 1.5 hours round trip for 5 days during the week. I know that if you live in California, that commute can be upwards of 2 hours… one way!

I once did some work for a guy who lived in the Central Valley and commuted 3 hours one way every day into the Bay Area. Why? Because the Central Valley was the only place where he could find a decent house at a reasonable price.

Anyway, 1.5 hours for 5 days amounts to 7.5 hours out of our week leaving 94 hours.

Then there is work.

Givens assumes an 8-hour workday with an hour for lunch for 5 days or 45 hours out of our week (again, a number that is way low) leaving us with 49 hours to use.

Then he assumes that the average person will spend about an hour every day eating dinner for 7 days. Obviously, the man never heard of the Happy Meal or Dashboard Dining. But lets go with it and take out another 7 hours for dinner. That leaves us with 42 hours (less than 2 days) in our entire week to devote to the other stuff in life like:

Our significant others

Our children (that’s where the Happy Meals come in)

Television

Hobbies and personal interests

Exercise (Happy Meals do not help out here)

House cleaning, yard work, home maintenance, laundry, and the honey-do list

Time for our friends

Extra errands

And we haven’t even included the things that are really, really important to us like our personal dreams, goals and personal improvement.

As I looked his analysis, something struck me. There are 45 hours taken out of play because they are devoted to work.

Givens’ wrote and published his book back in the early 90s when we were just coming out of the money centric 80s.

Think "Wall Street", Gordon Gecko, and his speech on how greed is good for America.

People worked because they wanted money. And they worked for money so that they could have the time and freedom to do what they wanted, and the power and recognition that came along with that. The focus was definitely on getting a "good" job and moving up the corporate ladder.

Problem was that most of the people who lived in that era woke up from that dream and found that the ladder of success that they were so busy climbing was leaning up against the wrong wall. Oh, they got what they were striving for, but when the actually got it, they discovered that it wasn’t really what they wanted, and they didn’t enjoy the journey in getting it.

I know so many people who just woke up one day and walked away from six figure incomes because they weren’t feeling fulfilled and they didn’t like the person that they had become.

What if, that 45 hours you spent on the job, was actually time that you enjoyed? What if you were actually learning something and doing something that was aligned with your goals, dreams and vision?

You probably wouldn’t spend your time trying to manage (or cram) your life into that leftover 42 hours.

Here is a suggested course of action:

Take 2 to 3 hours out of that leftover 42 hours in your week, sit down and ask yourself, "What is the vision I have for the rest of my life? What do I want to accomplish in the time I have left in this world? What do I want to do, be and have and how can I use my resources to make it happen?"

Once you have identified what is important to you, you will be amazed to find the rest of your resources, like your time, being aligned to assist you in reaching those targets.

In the Leadership Training for Managers, program, we do an exercise with value identification. In that exercise, we give the participants a set of value cards where they can identify and rank the values that are important to them. If you go to www.dcarnegietraining.com next week, you will find these values listed on our site for you. Take the time to identify your values, rank them in order of importance, and then create your vision of the life you want to live, filled with the stuff that gets you excited.

You can’t steal too much time from the 56 hours you need to sleep. Studies have shown that doing so can shorten your life span. But you can align those 45 work hours more along the way you want to conduct your life.

Remember, it’s your life and life is too short to be miserable.

Quote for August 6 2008

2008-08-06T03:00:00.001-04:00

"I have found that if I have faith in myself and in the idea I am tinkering with, I usually win out."

-Charles F. Kettering

The Secret to a Fulfilling Career

2008-08-06T02:00:00.002-04:00

Well, it finally happened.

My laptop, an IBM ThinkPad, is pushing 3 years old and as you may be aware, 3 years for a laptop is about the equivalent of 100 years in human years.

It’s getting up there and it’s showing signs of old age. The screen is doing random and increasingly long blinks and the keyboard has taken a beating. In fact, the "j" flaps at me regularly, and on occasion it jumps right off the keyboard and performs back flips in the air. And while it hasn’t "blue screened" in a while, I have seen it shut down by itself.

Not a good sign.

So this past week, I went off to one of my favorite toy stores, Microcenter, looking for a suitable backup unit or possible replacement.

On my first trip to Microcenter, I met Raymie in the laptop/desktop bullpen. He introduced himself, and was pleasant enough. So when he asked what I was looking for that day, I hit him with my primary criteria, asking him which machines already had Vista Business loaded.

That narrowed the field considerably. He pointed out 3 of his business class machines. The rest had Vista Home Premium loaded. Those were the big screen devils that doubled as a poor man’s home theater.

I asked Raymie a few more questions, outlined some of my other criteria, and then, as I was in a little bit of a hurry, asked when he was going to be back in the store.

Hey, he did help, only fair to make sure he got his recognition for his part in making the sale.

I was originally planning to be back on Friday, which turned out was his day off.
So instead, I went back the next day. The floor was a little more crowded, but amidst all of the chaos, there was Raymie, enjoying himself. He was helping someone else set up a refurbished unit.

"Raymie. Remember me? I was here yesterday talking with you about that business laptop."

"Yes, I remember you." He said. "Give me one second while I get this guy set up and I’ll be right with you."

Raymie continues to help this guy initialize his refurbished unit while I looked over my "soon to be new toy". I could hear him working with the guy, making jokes and being light about the tasks that this guy faced with his unit.

After about 5 minutes, Raymie was at my side reviewing the specs on the machine.

We talked about the virtues of the machine, how it met all of my requirements and he pointed out some additional things that this machine had and some of the other things it would allow me to do. At one point, I asked him about virus and malware protection, because I saw the infamous Norton Antivirus screen on the machine.

"No, no, this is only a trial version. Most people go with this because it’s easy to upgrade to a full version and it’s already on the system. We typically don’t recommend it because it has a large footprint and it’s heavy, it slows your machine down a lot. Now this is the application we use here. We asked a couple of security consultants to perform some tests and make suggestions and this is what they recommended. This is the stuff that we recommend to our users who want to remove Norton and try something different."

Raymie then went on to explain why this new package was so much better than what was already on the system. He identified some of the things that it had to offer and told me how they were using this package in their home office. It was at that time that we both noticed an older gentleman who had been standing off to the side. I didn’t recognize him, but Raymie did.

He said, "Hold on for a moment, let me take care of this guy…" and then went on to address the older gentleman.

I saw Raymie put on a big smile, approach the gentleman and say, "Is everything ok?"
The man said, "You know that piece of paper with that information you just gave me? Well the wind just took it right out of my hands."

Raymie went over to his console addressing the guy as he went.

"That’s OK." He said. "We can fix you up. In fact, the wind and I have an arrangement. It was supposed to take that information away from you so you could come back and hear that presentation on security software that I was giving that gentleman over there" he said, pointing to me.

The older guy said, "Oh, is that why I needed to come back in?"

"Yes. Now you know that you need security software as well, isn’t that right?"

They both chuckled and as Raymie was pulling up the information for printing out, I heard him say, "I’m just playing with you. You know, we have to have some fun around here."

The older gentleman said, "I know that. And you know what? You’re right!"

You have to have fun!

From the time that I walked into Microcenter to the point I walked out of the building with the laptop. The one thing that I noticed was that Raymie was having fun. He was actually enjoying himself.

I think many of us forget that we need to enjoy ourselves and have fun at work. We get caught up in the concept that work is a four letter word and we shouldn’t enjoy it.

Will there be those tasks that you don’t want to do? Sure.

Will there be those days that nothing goes right? Of course.

Will there be times that you just feel burnt out? Absolutely.

We are human. These things happen and our interests flows to different things at different times.

But work is not a hateful, necessary evil.

Sometimes, in sales, we focus too much on the business and we forget to have fun and enjoy ourselves. We forget to enjoy the process and focus too much on the result, the goal.

Goals are important, but so is the process we take to get to the goal. If you are just going through the motions because some guru said that these are the steps you need to take to be successful, then there is an essential element missing out of the equation; and that element is you.

Here in our call center, our team is on the phone 8 hours a day and they go through some grueling challenges. The CEO of the company, Lance, made it clear that he doesn’t want anyone to turn this into a career stop. He considers our inside sales team to be a small step in a much bigger plan in the development of our people. But it is a step. And Lance is watching to see who is performing, how people are behaving, and who is enjoying themselves.

As such, we do a variety of things to break up the monotony. We have contests, games, training sessions, and fun, lots of fun. If our people were only making calls to hit a number, the job would be boring. And while our team would hit their call numbers, no one would learn anything, no one would make any sales and no one would have fun.

When I was going through my product endorsement, the fourth stage of instructor certification, I spent a lot of the time on edge. I was focused strictly on passing the event and making it to the next level. As I was too focused on the result, I wasn’t spending any "mind awareness" on the process.

At one point during the event, the master instructor pulled me aside and asked me a question. He asked, "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Of course, I replied ‘yes’, although I think we both knew that I was so focused on meeting all of the requirements that I was wound tighter than a cheap mechanical watch. Engineers get that way sometimes.

But he was wise enough to recognize this and told me that I needed to relax, enjoy the process and just not focus on meeting a set of requirements. He told me that if I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing, other people would notice that feeling quite easily and they wouldn’t want to be around me. He suggested that I go back read Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Then, identify what the worst thing that could possibly happen and accept it. Once I accepted the worst possible situation, I was free to improve my situation and enjoy the process.

Turns out, my best day was the last day of the event, because I was free from stressing out about meeting the requirements and recognized opportunities in other people.

If you are involved in a job where you are too focused meeting a goal or performing a task and you aren’t enjoying what you are doing, it may be time to start looking for something else to do.

Life is too short to spend it in a miserable state of mind.

Do like Raymie and have some fun.

Quote for August 5 2008

2008-08-05T03:00:00.001-04:00

"There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb himself."

-Andrew Carnegie

Quote for July 29 2008

2008-07-29T03:00:00.001-04:00

"The world bestows its big prizes both in money and honors for but one thing. And that is initiative. And what is initiative? I'll tell you: it is doing the right thing without being told."

-Elbert Hubbard

Training and Event Updates for July 28 2008

2008-07-29T02:30:00.006-04:00

Here are this week's updates for events and programs in the Ohio Valley area.

Interpersonal Communications, Leadership and Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations

Strictly Business: The Dale Carnegie Immersion Seminar

Sales and Sales Communication

The Sales Advantage

Make Sales: How to Jump Start Your Selling Career

Leadership and Management

Leadership Training for Managers

The Leadership Advantage

Group Communication, Public Speaking, Presentation and Platform Skills

High Impact Presentations

Cleveland, OH Thurs/Fri 7/31/08 and 8/01/08 (call for availability)
Indianapolis, IN Thursday/Friday 8/21-22/08 (7 seats left)
Cincinnati, OH Tue/Wed 9/30/08 and 10/01/08

Supplemental Events

The Marshall Goldsmith Seminar: What Got You Here Won't Get You There..

Columbus, OH with Ed Eppley on Wed 10/01/08 and Thu 10/02/08

McGohan Brabender: Planning and Execution

Cincinnati, OH with Ed Eppley on Tuesday 8/05/08

McGohan Brabender: Negotiation - From Conflict to Collaboration

Dayton, OH with Lance Tyson on Thursday 10/02/08

McGohan Brabender: Planning and Execution

Columbus, OH with Ed Eppley on Thursday 9/18/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Keep Your Staff Engaged, Energized & Motivated.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 9/26/08

Dale Carnegie Seminar: How to Cold Call to Build New Customers.

Cleveland, OH with Kevin Watts on Friday, 10/24/08

Quote for July 21 2008

2008-07-22T03:00:00.002-04:00

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."

-Abraham Lincoln

Quote for July 18 2008

2008-07-18T03:00:00.001-04:00

"If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability."

-Henry Ford

New Partnership with Manta.com

2008-07-18T02:00:00.001-04:00

Good people,

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last 2 weeks. The hard working crew over here at Dale Carnegie just completed a project with the equally hard working crew over at the business portal, Manta.com.

Manta.com is the go-to portal for information on companies. The site offers free research and pay-as-you-go business information on more than 45 million companies.

According to Ginger Pullen, Senior Web Editor at ECNext, "Manta.com is a key business resource that will help you close deals faster. Over time, look for ongoing tips and techniques from major sales training companies as well as successful case studies from Manta.com users to help you refine your skills and accelerate your success!"

In the coming months, expect to see more projects between our two organizations as we work together to overcome these tectonic shifts in the economy and help you increase your effectiveness in closing sales and getting business.

This is truly an exciting partnership and we have some extremely interesting and unique projects in the works. Many thanks to Pamela Springer, Ginger Pullen, Lance Tyson and Ed Eppley for bringing this all together.

So go visit the portal by clicking on the manta badge, create your account, sign up for the newsletter, and get ready to make some things happen.

Today is only the beginning.

Good selling!

Quote for July 11 2008

2008-07-11T03:00:00.002-04:00

"If time be of all things most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality, since lost time is never found again; and what we call time enough always proves little enough. Let us then be up and doing, and doing to a purpose; so by diligence shall we do more with less perplexity."

-Benjamin Franklin

Quote for July 10 2008

2008-07-10T03:00:00.002-04:00

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

-Helen Keller