THe Art of Objections – Yes, that is exactly why I’m calling.

The number one problem in Sales is Objections. You need to agree with the prospect. The most successful technique I learned is to say “Yes, that is exactly why I’m calling.”

WE HAVE NO MONEY IN THE BUDGET!

“Yes, that is exactly why I am calling. We are talking with companies right now that have no money for at least 18 months; however, they are using this downtime to do the research so that they can present the proper solution when the money comes back. . .”

I have discovered that many CIO’s are worried about their jobs. When asked for a solution to the companies problems they have to come up with the right answer that will work the first time. If your solution really is as good as you say – they will find the money sooner. If it isn’t that good – you need to sell a different product.

I DON’T HAVE TIME RIGHT NOW!

“Yes, that is exactly why I’m calling. I am trying to find out if you are working on President’s Day. I’m working that day, and I am trying to find out if you have to work that day too . . .”

You will be surprised how many top executives have to work partial days on American only holiday- especially executives working for multi-national companies. Also try the day before “Major Holidays” like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day, etc. Most of the “TEAM” has taken the time off so there are no team-meetings.


Always make the executive feel that you have done your homework and are prepared to meet them, because you understand the situation at hand.

THe Art of Coaching Girl’s Sports

We all need therapy. My therapy is coaching children’s sports. I’ve coached both girl’s and boy’s soccer. My total experience in playing soccer is spring leagues in high school. I was by no means the best soccer player out there; however, I had the sheer will to make thing happen.
If you get the chance, I recommend coaching girl’s sports- you will learn more about yourself and your ability to motivate others than any training you can take. WHY GIRL’S SPORTS? I found that some boys are forced to play sports by their parents. They have no desire to be there, and little desire to get better. Girl’s on the other hand join sports because they want to be there. Some join because their friend’s are playing, some join because they love to play, and some join because they love to win. The key is they love. If only co-workers came to work for the same love of the game . . .
Here are the top five things I learned that can be applied to business:
1) SHOW THEM DON’T TELL THEM
Actually my brother sent me this about ten years ago when he was coaching girl’s sports. Too many times we tell people what we want them to do but we lose it in the translation. Last fall, the third grade girl’s soccer team THE BEDFORD SHARKS lost a game 8-1, I was beside myself because none of the Sharks were chasing down the other team when they got the ball. Dozens of times, the other team came in from the right with two players and the defensive Bedford Sharks player on the left would not come over to help. After the game was over, I asked my daughter why she wouldn’t come over and help. She told me, “You said my job was to defend this side of the field and I did.” Well, she did exactly what I told her to do.
2) IF IT AIN’T WORKING- FIX IT
Well coach, you taught them the wrong way to play soccer. . . I forgot that this was their first time they had played soccer competitively. They didn’t know the big picture. They didn’t know strategy. They knew that they loved to play soccer, they loved playing with their friends, and a few loved to win. Well, that’s a lie. They loved to score, they didn’t love to win or lose. I loved to win. You can’t teach someone to win, but you can find what they love to do and show them what to do so that they end up winning. So the rules of the game changed: Players on the back line – you’re job is to get the ball over the midline has fast as possible. Players on the front line – you’re job is to get the ball in the net as fast as possible. With this new mission statement, I was able to show the players on the back line how to work together to get the ball over the midline and how to get the front line to score.
3) GO WITH THE FLOW
The team only won 2 games the whole season. It was the most successful season I’ve ever had. What were the real goals of third grade girl’s soccer? Teach them teamwork. Teach them to score. Teach them to stop the other team from scoring. Teach them soccer skills. Well actually that is a lie too. The real goals??? Have them learn teamwork. Have them learn to score. Have them learn how to stop the other team from scoring. Have them learn soccer skills. Have you ever tried to teach someone a skill and they just don’t get it? That is kid’s sports. During practice we played a lot of games that required them to use soccer skills and figure out strategy . . . Sounds like business training. Some of the games worked well some failed miserably. The games that worked we did every other practice. Those that failed, well as a coach you want to try new things and new motivation. Some just don’t work. If it isn’t working- move on. Remember what motivates your team. When these girl’s were in first grade I told them about my father. He is retired a Coast Guard helicopter search and rescue pilot. I told the girls they were now rescue pilots. I had them start behind one goal post. I stood on the sidelines of midfield and kicked their balls out onto the field. Their job was to find their own ball and take it all the way down the field to the other goal which was the hospital. The game transformed into “SAVE THE BABIES”. We played this game a half dozen times before I forced them to take a break. And they were mad I made them take a break. Now the traditional coach would have told the team that we are running sprints, and everyone is going to sprint the whole field 6 times. I had accidentally tapped into the LOVE OF BABIES as a motivator. In third grade, this is still one of their favorite games. The parents are amazed that I can get the girl’s to sprint the whole field because they want to.
4) IT’S MORE THAN THE TEAMMATES
In sales, we always want to get to the decision maker who can cut the check and buy our product. We forget that there are influencers who can kill a sale. In sports, they are called parents. Every teammate needs a ride to practice. This team was also motivated by love of parent. At the end of every practice the girls would have a scrimmage for about a half hour. If they had a good practice, they got the ultimate prize- a scrimmage against the parents. Now we had parents with mad skills, parents with no skills, brother and sisters who played soccer. I’d bring the influencers out onto the field. To make the game fair, I would come up with rules to handicap the “OLD SHARKS” – only one touch on the ball, no running (only walking), you have to hold hands with a teammate, etc. By the end of the season, I had all the parents showing up a half hour before the end of practice so they wouldn’t miss the scrimmage. The last couple of practices were in the New England cold of late October, sometimes it drizzled. And still the whole team would show up. Everyone wanted to show up – for the love of soccer, for the love of friends, for the love of well- family.
5) THERAPY
Have you ever seen a team lose by 2 goals and they think it is a greatest day ever? That’s girl’s soccer. Win or lose the team ran off the field, lined up to shake hands, and then gathered to talk about what we wanted to work on during practice. The girls were telling the coach what they wanted to work on! Who doesn’t want to be part of a team like that? At the beginning of the season, these girls didn’t know the left side of the field from the right*. They had never played team passing soccer. They lost the first 4 games by 6 or more goals each. The spirit of “wanting to get better” never diminished. Who doesn’t want to be on a team like that? Because you know what? That’s what makes a winning team.


*When the team switches sides at half time, the girls didn’t know that left and right now apply to the other side of the field.

THe Art of Proofreading

Nothing can sabotage you more than a poorly written presentation. Proofreading is not spelling and grammar checking. Proofreading is READING. I am blessed with one of the best proofreaders known to man – my son. Ever since Alec has been able to read, I have had him read any article I published; any presentation I am about to make; or any letter I am about to submit (we just haggled about whether to use semicolons . . .). If you want to get a real feel for what you wrote, have an 8 year old read your article aloud back to you.
First, it has to make sense to you. Many times you know the material so well you forget to add all the details to help connect the dots.
Second, if it doesn’t make sense to an 8 year old, you are probably making it more complex than it really has to be.
Unfortunately, Alec is now 13 years old and is a better writer than I am. The point being most of us feel that we are terrible writers so we try to hide what we write until the very last second, and then spring the presentation on our audience. BE PROUD THAT YOU HAVE FAULTS AND FAILINGS. Find a proofreader- nearly anyone will do because we are all pretty bad at it.
However, the best person to pick is someone who you would like to HONOR by having them be “the first to read what you wrote”. You will gain so much insight into what you said versus what you really wanted to say.
If you can’t find a proofreader, record yourself reading it, and then play it back. It might be two o’clock in the morning and the presentation is the next day – but you have to do it.

UPDATE 2017: I now have a type to talk app. that reads it back to me, and I can change between 10 different voices.

What Percent of my Time should be Spent Cold Calling

On Linkedin a person posed the question: “HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I SPEND COLD CALLING?” Answer: Enough to fill your goal!!! It doesn’t matter whether it is a personal goal or a goal set by the company here the formula I use. . .

Take each of the prospects in your pipeline, and assign each one a percent value for the chance of it actually occurring. Use either 90%, 75%, 25%, or 10%. Some people use 50%, but really, there is either a good chance it is going to happen or not a good chance it is going to happen.

A “90%” means that you have just about finished the contract – there might be some legal terms that need to be approved.

 A “75%” means you’ve finished selling, and started the contract talks.

 A “25%” means you met the right decision makers, but you haven’t gotten to the contract phase.

 A “10%” means you are working your way through the company to find the final approval maker.

Take the value of each contract and multiply it by the percent value:
$100,000 x .90 = 90,000 Project A
$50,000 x .75 = 37,500 Project B
$150,000 x .75 = 112,500 Project C
$300,000 x .25 = 75,000 Project D
$60,000 x .25 = 30,000 Project E
$100,000 x .25 = 25,000 Project F
$100,000 x .25 = 25,000 Project G
$100,000 x .10 = 10,000 Project H
$200,000 x .10 = 20,000 Project I
$100,000 x .10 = 10,000 Project J
$100,000 x .10 = 10,000 Project K
$100,000 x .10 = 10,000 Project L

Total of Projects 455,000, If your goal is $600,000 then use have a shortfall of $145,000 or 24%. You should be spending 24% of your time either cold calling or business networking to find new clients. 

If you do not have the hours in the week to spend that much time hunting for new prospects you need to find someone who can. Some companies have inside sales people calling for the outside sales people. Other companies outsource the whole demand generation process.

THe Art of 30/300/3000 for Cold Calling and Networking

Cold Calling or Networking- which is best? The answer: Yes. The purpose of Cold Calling and Networking is to fill the very front of your pipeline. Both have a time and place, and I think business people should do a blend of each. How you create your blend depends on your skill set. I can make over 300 “cold dials” in a day. My very best day was over 800, but that was on a Friday before a Holiday and almost nobody was picking up the phone. It was also a terrible day to network too, because most of the people with whom I would business network were gone for the day.

The reason most people fail at Cold Calling and Business Networking is because the are trying to Cold Sell and Business Netsell (Neither works very well- and usually back fires). What you are really trying to do is get an introduction to the right person. The goal of either method is to “Buy more time with the right people”.

When I Cold Call, I come up with a 30 second pitch that will hook the listener into giving me five more minutes to explain my pitch. Then I close by asking for 50 minutes for a face to face meeting at a later date. 30 seconds buys me 300 seconds which buys me 3,000 seconds.

When I business network, I come up with a 30 second elevator pitch, which will get the person to ask me a question which will give me 5 minutes to explain further. Then I close by asking for 50 minutes for a face to face meeting at a later date.

Gee Jeff those look awfully similar . . . Of course!!! That is by design. Most professionals skip the 30 second pitch and try to hammer everyone they see with the five minute pitch. An unsolicited 5 minute pitch is the quickest way to kill a prospect’s interest.

The 30 second pitch allows me to see if my listener is the right person. If they aren’t- I want a referral to the right person.

By setting up the 30/300/3000 rule with the first person you meet, they are more likely to introduce you to the other decision makers in the company. The goal is to move down the pipeline by lining up the right people who can sign the contract.

The best thing about Cold Calling and Business Networking is that they very rarely compete for the same hours of the day. Most Business Networking hours occur when most people aren’t at their desk – Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. So you need to develop both skills. Some people have better phone skills. Some people have better in-person skills. Some people have time during the day to make calls at work. Some people have time to network at daily gatherings.

Truth is, most professionals are very good at getting prospects through the sales pipeline and are terrible at finding prospects to get into the pipeline. Mostly, because companies spend a lot of money teaching you how to sell your products and services and not much time teaching you how to fill the pipeline. So you meet a prospect and start selling which ends up failing. They rely on you to find your own external sources to teach you how to network and how to cold dial to get introduced to the right person. Every year, you should learn better networking and learn better cold dialing. And remember the 30/300/3000 rule!

THe Art of Networking in a Down Economy

It’s a Down Economy. WHOOOOO HOOOOOO! Opportunity can only be found in an up or a down economy. Already your competition has called it quits- “When the economy is this bad there is no reason to network. Bla bla bla ” They couldn’t be more wrong. Now is the best time to network. Let’s face it– we are all scared. We are all looking over our shoulder to see if we have a job next month . We are checking our bank accounts to see how long we can survive without a job. We are not sticking our heads out for anyone or anything. Sounds bleak? In business, we call these “pain points”, and the beauty of it if everyone is looking for help to solve these pains. We are narrowing down the number of people with whom we network to those people who can be counted on in a down economy, and they don’t have the luxury of making any mistakes. So be the “one” that they can turn to and count on. So here are the top three things to do for the next 12 months. BE POSTIVE. It’s all about attitude. When the economy is down, it’s easy to be positive because everyone is so negative. One small positive comment looks ten times more positive than it did six months ago. Go out and network and talk about what is working well for your company. Professionals want to surround themselves with people who can see through the adversity and look for opportunities. We have truckloads of lemons out there start making lemonade. When someone ask you how badly you have been affected by the economy reply: “well you know just the other day (fill in the blank with something positive). At a car dealership, they told me that car sales were down, but car repairs are up. At a restaurant, they told me they are getting a lot more college age clients during the holidays. At a Plant Nursery, they are selling holiday decorations. FOLLOW THROUGH.20Professionals are dropping useless people off there list- especially, useless vendors! The easiest way to judge the value of people is whether they follow through with promises. You need to make a promise and follow through with it. A promise has two key components – the delivery and the time limit. You need to promise the delivery of some item or information and you have to put a time limit as to when the delivery will be competed. “I’ll get you have paperwork by Tuesday at four o’clock.” “I’ll talk with Tom this Friday, I’ll send you an e-mail over the weekend, and I will call you 10:00 on Monday.” Business people have more problems now than they did six months ago. And their current networking partners/vendors are under the microscope. Professionals are open to fixing every problem in their life right now. Anyone who can help take a load off their shoulders is a “valued person”. The value of a relationship is being screened by the success of follow through. Do not miss any scheduled meetings or appointments. Do not miss any scheduled meetings or appointments. Yes, I said it twice. Apathy and excuses will kill your business in a down economy. If you belong to any networking groups, non-profit boards, etc. You need to be there as planned. DO A GOOD DEED. I go to a Pow Wow in my town every year, and a friend of mine is one of the vendors. One morning no one was buying anything and she remembered that she forgot=2 0to appease the spirits by doing a GOOD DEED that morning. She gave a small girl a necklace for free. Suddenly she had a bunch of people come over to buy from her booth. Every religion has a name for it. Call it what you will- it works. In a down economy it works even better. Every day, do something nice. At every networking event, do something nice. Good Deeds reflect the fact that you are someone who will make an extra effort. Yesterday, my co-worker was having a problem with a sales pitch. I dropped what I was doing and we worked on his sales pitch for an hour. My neighbor called me at work and asked if he could pick up my children from daycare so I didn’t have to hurry across traffic in the freezing rain. My friend picked me up a book on Service Oriented Architecture for Dummies because one of my major clients specializes in SOA. The key to GOOD DEEDs is that we all think about them, in a down economy, you have to take action and do them. So chin up, the opportunities are out there. There is a whole world of pain and suffering just waiting for you to step up and help. Go out and network. Listen to their pain. Create opportunities. Be positive. Follow though. Do a good deed.

Why the title?

In December 2008, I sent out a message to a small group of friends about how to network in a down economy. A friend of mine from BNI said I should blog in this world of doom and gloom, because I have a positive outlook on life. At Christmas dinner, my neighbor Effie told me to start I should create a place on blogspot. So with school cancelled on account of ice and snow, I finally made the time to start.
But Jeff why the title? And who taught you to spell?
I spell well, but I type horribly. Hundreds of thousands of times I've spelled "THe". It has become a trademark of mine. Spell checker is a wonderful thing.  The "THe" reminds me that I can laways get better, and I should always proofread my work.
There is an art to everything. There is an Art to being Better. Most of the time we just forget to practice being Better! We breath all the time, but we need to stop and take a deep breath every once in a while. Mostly, we are so busy at work that we forget to take a step back and see if there is a better way to do our job. My goal is to find all those great tactical ways that are the Art of being Better.

My life as changed a lots since 2008.  This blog moved from being about networking, to becoming the home of 100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients.  And just to let you know my typing has not improved, but I want to thank Google Chrome for adding spellchecking so that has improved.   Grammar checking would be next.