Strategies for Success Newsletter July 2010 Issue 55
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Published by Emily Huling Selling Strategies
Copyright 2010 Emily Huling. All rights reserved.
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To view this newsletter in html format, please click this link:
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In this July 2010 issue:
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1.
Thoughts from home
Excusing yourself with excuses
My neighbor Kate is always complaining. More days than not, she focuses on what
hurts. Her most common ailments are headache, stomach ache, muscle aches, and
trouble sleeping. Her conditions aren’t life threatening, but she seems to use
them to create excuses to not to do things. She’ll say:
“I couldn’t go to the gym this morning because I didn’t sleep well.”
“I would love to go to the movies, but I’m afraid I’m coming down with
something.”
“I love being with my grandchildren, but I always get sick.”
“I helped my son in his business yesterday, but couldn’t do much because I had a
migraine.”
Kate believes that a person either has good health or doesn’t. She tells me how
lucky I am to have none of her nuisance health issues. I’ve told her that I have
the same challenges she has, I just choose to live life moving through them, not
attaching myself to them.
Moral to the story: Don’t seek reasons to excuse yourself from living a full and
happy life.
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2. Emily’s mailbag
Challenged by Great Service Sells
Dear Emily,
I’m the operations manager at our agency. We are currently going through your
program Great Service Sells in our
staff meetings and I’m encountering a problem. There is resistance from the
senior CSRs who believe it’s a waste of time because they already know this. I
feel like you can always refresh your memory and I like the discussions that we
have after the material is presented. But they don’t seem to see it the same
way. Do you have any suggestions for me?
Sincerely,
Resisting Resistance
Dear RR,
What you described is quite common. So instead of asking your senior CSRs to
learn, ask them to teach. Use those four magic management words which are “I
need your help.” Meet with your senior-level staff. Tell them you hear
them and understand their frustration with the basic nature of GSS. Tell them
that you believe it’s in the agency’s best interest that these customer service
and sales practices become your culture. How do they suggest using GSS to do
that? Or if they have better ideas, can they create another program to turn
service into sales?
Another approach is to ask each person to read GSS on her own giving them a
deadline. Ask each CSR to write down her top ten strategies that she uses or
should use. Your GSS meetings would be each person presenting two of their ten
ideas and how those practices have played out. Hopefully each will have success
stories to share. At the conclusion of these meetings, consolidate the top ideas
to create a combined list of ten top practices to turn service into sales.
Please let me know how it all works out!
Sincerely, Emily
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Avoid complaining. If you don’t like something, find a way to change it. EH
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The Energizer Minute
This month tune in to hear Slow it Down.
Go to the www.sellingstrategies.com
home page and click on the Energizer Minute.
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3. Thoughts from the office
Working smarter/Getting smarter
I have made a concerted effort this year to improve my office productivity and
brain power. Here are my
recommendations to do that.
Working smarter
Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 - speech recognition software. By simply speaking
into the provided microphone, this amazing software program turns talk into
text. It's integrated into most Windows ™ office applications and is accurate
and easy-to-use. I'm using it right
now.
Kindle - the electronic reader by Amazon.com. As an avid reader and traveler who
has several books going at once, this invention is a life changer. I was
skeptical at first. I couldn't imagine not having a paper book to hold. Now, I
can't imagine picking one up. Affordable purchased books are downloaded in less
than 60 seconds. I have the newest version – the 6 inch, 1/3 inch thick model.
Reading is easy with the adjustable font size and the finger-touch page turner.
My local library offers electronic books, but unfortunately not yet for the
Kindle. I can’t wait.
MozyPro online data backup program -- John has been backing up our computers
in-house for years. It was the encrypted and remote storage features that sold
us on the need for off-site data backup. MozyPro is affordable, easy to use, and
reliable.
RoboForm password manager - I'm passing this resource along to you because it is
highly recommended by my clients. This program allows users to log into multiple
websites automatically using one single personal password.
Getting smarter
Internet marketing and the social web – IIABA’s Agents Council for Technology
(ACT) offers free articles, reports, and webinars. Industry experts and agents
provide in-depth information to use this media appropriately and profitably. Go
to www.iiaba.net/ACT
and click on Internet marketing. You'll find several seminars on social
media marketing to expand your Web presence and communication prowess. Many
thanks to Jeff Yates and his team who volunteer a lot of time to create these
learning tools.
Soundview Executive Book Summaries -- I've been subscribing to this service for
15 years and I’m very impressed with the additional resources they now offer.
Online content is much easier to retrieve by subject and author. Free
monthly webinars are presented by best-selling authors and business leaders and
recorded for on-demand access. To stay current with exciting and innovative
business thinkers, I recommend subscribing to this resource.
What are you doing to work smarter and get smarter?
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For dozens of resources to create individual and company top performance visit
www.sellingstrategies.com or get
in touch with me at
emily@sellingstrategies.com or 888-309-8802.
Apply Coupon Code NEWS11 to receive a 20% discount on all online product orders.
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On the road
Business travel is taking me to these places. Please give me a call if you’d
like to connect when I’m in your area.
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Selling Strategies: Strategies for Success Newsletter is published by Emily
Huling Selling Strategies. For further information contact
emily@sellingstrategies.com.
© 2010 Emily Huling. All rights reserved. Feel free to share our newsletter if
copyright and credit are always included.