Butterflies In Formation

What are we doing with our clients immediately following the signing of a purchase agreement?  How are the next 15 to 20 minutes being spent?  How do we keep their excitement peaked and manage any butterflies that may be circling?

1. Congratulate them–reinforce the decision
2. Review the closing schedule
3. Set appraisal/home inspection appointments
4. Discuss their preferred means of communication
5. Introduce them to others involved in the transaction
6. Encourage them to tell their friends–show off the new home
7. Email digital photographs

Continue to watch and analyze your buyer’s emotions.  Be aware of any signals of discontent or emotional insecurity.  Reinforce their decision with Good News Stories relating to and supporting their purchase.

There are certainly additional ways to reinforce their decision… I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Let’s be sure that our Purchaser’s Butterflies are Flying in Formation! 

…By keeping them In-Formed!

Want To Be A More Confident Speaker? Tell A Story

You might get stage fright when you have to present, but chances are you’re already a natural storyteller.

Don’t like public speaking or giving presentations? You’re not alone–most people don’t. We’re fighting our primeval fear of ostracism whenever we stand up and begin to regale an audience. But chances are good that you like telling stories and sharing experiences a little more than you like delivering a keynote or running through a slide deck; after all, some 65% of our daily conversations are made up of personal stories (and, well, gossip).

So if you could use a bit more confidence for your upcoming speech or presentation, storytelling can give it to you. Not only do stories make for more effective, memorable experiences for the audience, they can also make delivering them easier on you. Here are five reasons why.

1. YOU’RE ALREADY GOOD AT IT

Quick check: Are you a human? Yes? Great! Your ancestors have been sitting around campfires for tens of thousands of years telling stories. Our brains are wired for story; it’s part of who humans are as a species. Marketers know this, Hollywood knows it, and neuroscience bears it out.

We are all natural storytellers, and when we deliver stories, we smile, show emotion, and radiate authenticity. Not only is authenticity engaging and persuasive, but you’ll feel infinitely more comfortable and confident when you’re up there just being yourself.

2. IT WILL STOP YOU FROM RAMBLING

Stories provide structure. Nobody likes a presentation or speech that lacks focus or a point, but every story, by definition, has a natural, built-in structure that can anchor the rest of your presentation. Stories follow a natural, linear progression of A leading to B and then, uh-oh, a crisis at C! Followed by recovery and success at D. As the late novelist Kurt Vonnegut pointed out decades ago (facetiously yet correctly), stories are effective because they follow recognizable arcs:

Beyond being compelling, these fundamental narrative structures make it easy for audiences to follow along and comprehend your message as they listen to you. We’ve all sat through enough bad presentations to know that good ones are the exception, so anything you can do to make your audience’s brains work less hard will make them love you.

3. STORIES ARE EASIER TO REMEMBER (AND BE REMEMBERED)

It’s for the same reason–their comprehensible structures–that stories are easier to remember than a series of points or ideas. Stage fright often stemsfrom fear of making a mistake or forgetting to say something. Telling a story, especially a personal one, doesn’t take a lot of memorization or practice; you already know it and you may have already told it dozens of times.

Stories are also much “stickier” than facts, words, or even visuals. We’re much better (according to one Stanford researcher, 22 times better) at remembering figures, stats, and corporate jargon when it’s incorporated into a narrative. So don’t ditch your data–just wrap it up in a story.

4. STARTING WITH A STORY WILL RELAX YOU

So, it comes naturally to you, provides structure, and is easy to remember and share. Sounds like a great way to open your presentation, right? The very start of your talk is the time when you’re most likely to be nervous or stressed, but it’s also when you need to hook your audience.

When we tell stories, we’re conversational: We smile, use good body language, make eye contact–everything that builds trust with listeners. If you start your presentation like that, you preempt any chance of anxiety or presentation jitters to get the better of you. Instead, your audience immediately starts to give you positive feedback; when you see them smile, react, look engaged, and lean forward in their seats as they listen to your story, your own confidence will inevitably rise.

5. YOU HAVE PLENTY TO CHOOSE FROM

We all carry around a lifetime’s worth of stories–both personal and professional–probably more than you’re even aware of, and you can draw on just about all of them. At its most basic level, a story is “something that happened to somebody,” so think about all those “somebodies” you can tell stories about: yourself, your customers, your company, your product, your colleagues, or your competition.

Before your next presentation, set some time aside to brainstorm the stories you already have available from your life. Find one that ties into the topic of your presentation–and, ideally, look for one that’s personal. Talk about overcoming a hardship or about a life lesson you learned, and build that into the presentation.

You’ll feel great about it, and your audience will, too.

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via Darren Menabney.  He lives in Tokyo, leading global employee engagement at Ricoh and teaching MBA students at GLOBIS University. Follow him on Twitter at @darmenab.

Coaching Your Sales Team Is Easier than You Think!

Selling Power:  Research shows that ongoing coaching that follows sales training has 400% more impact on productivity than sales training delivered without coaching. As a result, it’s no wonder sales coaching is a hot topic among leading sales managers. In addition, a landmark CEB study of sales teams showed that coaching delivered by managers is more than twice as effective as coaching by high performing peers – or even an internal sales trainer.

There are numerous benefits of managers providing coaching to their direct reports. These include:

1. Coaching drives higher performance. According to research by CSO insights, companies with formal sales coaching programs report 18% higher win rates than those with discretionary or informal programs.
2. Coaching creates transparency and trust. Coaching provides an opportunity for the manager to talk one-on-one with – and really listen to – their sales associates. This increased time and attention increases transparency, builds trust, and fosters stronger relationships.
3. Coaching increases employee engagement. Research shows that salespeople who have received quality coaching report higher engagement levels and are far more likely to stay with their company. With the cost of replacing a sales associate somewhere between two and 10 times their salary, this increased retention represents a significant dollar savings!

Deciding what to coach on is typically quite simple. Viewing a sales presentation will give some sense of the initial needs, or even just asking sales associates which parts of the sales process make them most uncomfortable will yield some areas for coaching.

Common topics for sales coaching include:

• Delivering an elevator pitch
• Discovery
• Handling objections
• Competitive differentiation
• Pricing negotiation
• Closing the deal

For managers who haven’t established a habit of providing coaching, here are some steps to begin the process:

1. Declare your intent. Share your coaching plans with your boss and ask him or her to hold you accountable for following through. In addition, explaining to your team that you are making coaching a priority will set the stage for successful initial sessions. The public nature of these declarations will help you follow through on your promise!
2. Establish a schedule. Setting a regular schedule elevates the importance of coaching in the minds of your team, showing that you’re serious about it. Consistency also makes keeping your commitment easier since your time is already blocked off for coaching.
3. Leverage technology. Using tools which deliver on-demand video-based coaching, can make the experience easier, less time consuming, and more effective for both managers and sales associates.

Once you’ve taken the plunge, you’re likely to find that delivering coaching is easier than you think. The simplest method is “directive coaching.” Feedback is delivered as a statement and is based on your observations and expertise. For example, you might recommend that an associate be more aggressive when asking for a next meeting.

A more advanced form of coaching is “non-directive coaching,” which is delivered in the form of questions. This prompts the sales associate to diagnose his or her own performance and identify potential areas for improvement. For example, you might ask, “How do you feel about the way you asked for a follow-up meeting?” This approach leads to self-assessment by the associate and helps create the need and desire to improve in certain areas.

As your coaching experience evolves, you’ll increase in skill, confidence, and effectiveness while you help your direct reports identify and work on areas for improvement. So, good luck sales manager. Now, get coaching!

via Mat Greenfield, coaching consultant at HireVue. He is a learning and development geek with a passion for helping people be the best they can be through training and coaching. Learn more about HireVue on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

How to Impress Anyone in 30 Seconds or Less

As a Real Estate Sales Professional, few things in life will help you more than knowing how to make an immediate great impression… 

Some experts estimate that 85 % of your financial success comes not from your skills or knowledge but from your ability to connect with other people and engender their trust and respect.

Within seconds, everyone you meet forms an impression that largely determines whether they’ll like, trust, and respect you.

Whether you’re an on-site or general real estate sales professional, attending trade association events, or leading an organization, making a good impression is absolutely critical. (No pressure, right?)

When greeting a new customer/client, managing your team or leading your business, connecting to people and making a great impression is very important.

Here are some tips from Lolly Daskal to help you win hearts and minds in 30 seconds:

Neutralize the fight-or-flight response.

The first few seconds of a first encounter are driven by instinctive reactions. Each person makes unconscious immediate appraisals that center around how safe they feel. Be mindful of your immediate signals, and make sure they could never be perceived as threatening.

Respect boundaries.

Be mindful of personal space and respect the boundaries of others. If in doubt, follow the other person’s cues: if they lean in, you lean in; if they stand back, you do the same. Remember that concepts of appropriate personal space vary by culture.

Feed expectations.

In business, first impressions are frequently colored by expectations. We expect people to live up to the image we have created in our minds from their reputation, phone calls, emails, or texts. We expect consistency with that general image — and without it, we feel some degree of disappointment and confusion. It’s not the time to surprise others with a new side of your personality.

Be mindful of body language.

It accounts for more than half of what others respond to initially — so it literally does speak louder than words. Hold yourself in a way that signals attention and an open heart, and keep a facial expression that combines authority with approachability and eye contact.

Stay positive.

The language of the brain is pictures, sounds, feelings, and to a lesser extent, smells and tastes. It’s much more difficult to translate negatives into brain-friendly imagery than positives. Work to develop a positive explanatory style.

Keep control of your attitude.

The general energy you give off is one of the first unconscious things people respond to. If you’re frazzled, project calm. If you’re distracted and unenthusiastic, project positivity. (You’ll not only make a better impression, but you can influence your own mood.)

Manage your moods.

People are drawn to warmth, enthusiasm, and confidence more than anger, arrogance, and impatience. Whatever is going on around you, manage your responses to get the best response from others.

Synchronize.

Make sure your words, your tone of voice, and your body language are all saying the same thing. Mixed messages put off others, but consistency gives you clarity and credibility.

Use sensory language.

Activate people’s senses, and mix up your imagery to make sure you hit their strength. Whenever possible, use descriptions of visual images, sounds, textures, motion, and feelings to add meaning to what you’re saying.

Be curious, open-minded, and interested.

If you can get the other person talking and keep them talking, odds are they’ll be drawn to you. Be interested and open-minded; ask questions that spark their imagination and ignite conversation.

Dress for success.

Find a personal style that represents who you are and the message you want to send about yourself. Look at your dress and appearance as packaging a product.

Have a personal statement.

Have a personal statement prepared and memorized so you can tell others concisely and eloquently what you do, what it means to you, and why it makes a difference. Think of it not as a sales pitch but an engaging and artfully crafted mini-presentation.

Work through these points and you should have a great first impression all lined up.

One final tip as you get out there:

Treat every connection you make as if it’s the most important thing you’ve ever done. Because, frankly, you never know when it actually will be.

IMAGE: Getty Images

Reprinted, with sales related edits, from: Inc.com | BY LOLLY DASKAL, President and CEO, Lead From Within | @LollyDaskal 

Dismantling the Sales Machine

Sales leaders have long fixated on process discipline, monitoring reps’ conformance to “optimal” behaviors and their performance of specified activities. Recently, however, this sales machine has stalled. The approaches that once led to predictable progress in a sale do not work with today’s customers, who are empowered with more information than ever before.

The new environment favors creative and adaptable sellers who challenge customers with disruptive insights into their housing needs—and offer unexpected solutions. Such “insight selling” gives associates latitude to discover what the customer has already concluded about its needs and the available solutions, determine who the decision makers are, look for signals that the customer is receptive to a new insight about their home, and then figure out how best to proceed.

Most organizations, despite faltering sales performance, still have a climate that emphasizes compliance rather than judgment.

To create a judgment-oriented sales climate, managers must serve as connectors within and beyond their teams, providing a continual flow of information that supports sales professionals as they exercise their judgment on individual transactions. These managers must also focus on the long term, monitoring customers’ behaviors and directing associate’s creativity and critical thinking to the most-promising opportunities. And they need to hire champions—not necessarily those with sales backgrounds—who can thrive in the new climate.

Please read entire HBR article here…

Read “Fan Factor”… It Will Help Make You Socially Relevant

Do you want a fun, easy-to-read, practical and relevant overview of how to be more “socially acceptable”?  Then I urge you to go to Meredith Oliver’s website, Creating WOW, and download a FREE copy of her eBook Fan Factor.  Did I mention it was free?

Fan Factor is written as though a good friend was telling you a story, with timely injections of personal anecdotes. It is a quick read, although it took me twice as long to get through because of all the time I spent highlighting passages and bookmarking pages.

While subtitled, “20 Slam Dunk Secrets to Engage Your Online Audience”, there are a lot more useful ideas than that.  Meredith provides consistent help in “Formulating Your Game Plan” to insure against being labeled a “social misfit.”  She exhibits the passion and expertise necessary to make it fun for the reader.

“The Fan Factor” will help you click with your fans! Feel free to join the Fan Factor discussion on Twitter (#FanFactor) or on Facebook.

Stop & Control Email Overload

Do you have thousands of messages in your inbox, and receive hundreds more every day? Welcome to the club. Instead of being overwhelmed by email, take these steps to regain control:

• Turn off the spigot. Unsubscribe to irrelevant e-newsletters and turn off Facebook or Twitter notifications. Consider whether colleagues are copying you on too many emails. If so, ask to only be updated with final decisions.
• Keep a clean inbox. It’s easier to handle incoming messages without clutter staring back at you. Create a new folder called “Old Inbox” and put all your messages in there. Then when new email comes in, sort it right away.
• Take an occasional break. Disconnect from all things digital once in a while. Take an email sabbatical next time you go on vacation.

Read Full Management Tip here… Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review. Follow her on Twitter at @amyegallo.

McAuliffe & McCormick, Inc.

 

HAPPY Mothers Day!!

I’ve loved this tribute to Moms, by Jimmy Dean, since I first heard it on the radio over 20 years ago…

Earl Nightingale’s “Strangest Secret”

Earl Nightingale is certainly one of the leaders of the “self-improvement” movement. I imagine that many of today’s “Gurus” like Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy followed his messages closely. Sit back and absorb, you won’t be sorry you took the time to listen to this 3-part recording.

We become what we think about!

 

 

 

Earl’s insights bring back great college memories… our water polo coach would read portions of his radio broadcasts to the team before each afternoon practice.

www.McAuliffeMcCormick.com

Six NEW Marketing Mandates for 2012 to 2015

The digital revolution transformed how marketers interact with customers. But the transformation isn’t over yet—and we’ve got to be ready for what comes next. Joel Rubinson has peered into the not-too-distant future to identify trends that any successful marketer can profitably exploit. Here are six of those trends.

via Marketing Profs

http://www.McAuliffeMcCormick.com