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Organized for Appointments
The Greek poet Archilochus said: “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training”. The same is true for our level of structure and organization.
If we are really intending to manage our actions in time and achieve our targeted outcomes by successfully making and executing appointments, we need to be structured to do that.
And that means to be organized by having appointments IN YOUR CALENDAR as one-hour placeholders, using the repeat function on yo…
Intended Outcomes
My program, “Sell it or Schedule it”™, is called that because the ONLY outcomes of a selling interaction is to close the sale or to arrange another contact time…in order to close the sale. To either write it up today because the customer is far enough along in their buying process to be able to confidently decide…or they aren’t! In the case of the latter, an appointment will ‘forward’ or ‘advance’ the sale so that you can close it at the next contact.
Anything else isn’t an outcome, but a step …
High Point Furniture Market
In the spirit of Spring and the transition and blossoming nature of the season, High Point Market was a welcome respite from the isolation of the pandemic.
It ‘felt’ well attended, both in the buildings and on the streets, and had an old and new quality to it.
Old in the sense of seeing lots of people I have missed in the last couple of years, and the chance to sit and talk about how they and their business have changed.
Old and new in revisiting shared experiences (I got a lot of “You once t…
Equals (Product) Solution
If you are still reading this series, you have come to the summary of addition: Problem plus Priorities plus Process equals Solution.
The product solution that you create by asking questions in these three areas and combining the answers will produce a solution that will compel the customer to take action…now.
Presenting a solution that captures the essence of what matters most to the customer standing in front of you requires focus, attention, patience, and persistence. And the satisfacti…
Priorities…plus….
As we did in the first blog of this series (Problems….), we will focus on one element. One element that when added to the others creates something magical.
Priorities are those things that matter most. And there aren’t a lot of them, which is what makes them priorities.
When working with a designer or with a retail customer, ask what the priorities of the project/product are…and limit them to THREE.
Ask: “What are the three most important elements to you?” Then listen and take no…
Problem…plus….
In this series, I am going to share a perspective with you that will have a lasting impact. These three initial points added together create something…something worth sticking around for.
When people have a home furnishings problem, they seek a solution with a designer or with a retail showroom. They come with a problem to be solved or a vision to be realized – or both. It is up to the professional service provider to find out what that is and to satisfy it.
To put this into place,…
Recognizing Resistance
Resistance is one of those things that is so easy to see in others but nearly impossible to see in ourselves. Some of that comes from the oft-believed notion that we are ‘open to new things’. How many people read Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson and saw themselves as Haw, the mouse who was willing to try a different way that would produce a better outcome?
Every day, EVERY day, I ‘invent the possibility’ of being willing and open. And I do that every day because it sets my thinking to …
Ending the First Month in the New Year
Whew! Month one in and done.
Are you off to a good start? Did you start and stop and start again? Did you hit your target for January yet?
This is a good beginning, whatever the outcome. You are starting a new process and you are completing your first milestone. Take a look at your actions and results and find something to celebrate – even it’s just sticking to the program!
You are likely in this for the long run and not just a quick accomplishment, so slow and steady wins the race.
New Actions in Action
Actions are the only things that produce results. New actions feel awkward at first and sometimes that awkwardness stops us from continuing them.
When you know this might happen, then it’s not a surprise when it does. That’s why you want to keep actions to a very few and repeatable if possible. Feeling awkward lessens with practice. And how we know we are doing something new IS the awkwardness of it…so that is good news!
Have a reasonable expectation of what new actions will produce. Giv…
New Year’s....are you ready?
I hope you have made good use of this month to reflect on the past year and start to put pen to paper to create the new one.
Have you completed your goals for this year? Did you make them 12-month goals or did you try to achieve them by Thanksgiving so that you can enjoy the holidays stress-free, with your loved ones?
- What did you learn from this year that you don’t want to repeat next year?
- What new challenges await you?
- What are the areas you want to develop – business skills? Tec…
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