Four Tips for Selling with Confidence

There are a number of factors that go into making a person successful at selling. One of the universal ones is having a certain level of confidence.

Quite simply the more confidence you have the more you will sell. Interestingly it is possible to have too much confidence and lose sales that way but let’s keep things simply for now and concentrate on boosting our confidence and thus our sales.

I outline some tips that are taken from the Edenchanges sales and recruitment training courses.

Believe in your product – this is one of the basic building blocks of sales confidence. Presenting a sales pitch on a product you are uncertain about is a painful experience. Find something to believe in with regards to your product. Consider the benefits of it to the purchasers. If it is a lower value, high volume item then presumably it’s priced accordingly and people need that volume.

(Yes I am making the assumption that people are doing honest business and selling an ethical product at an ethical price.)

For recruiters this is fundamental basic of the job, or should be, and it has some positive consequences peculiar to recruitment. As it is easier to be confident about a good quality candidate what you will find happens is that you will seek hard to find better quality candidates. This of course then benefits you as you are representing better people which will open more doors and result in more hires. Everyone benefits!

Preparation – being prepared for your sales meeting or phone session gives you something to base your confidence on. It is a very comfortable feeling to know that you are ready for the session. In particular prepare mentally, and use notes, relating to what you are going to say first and what you are going to say to the most likely objections.

Fail with confidence – for me Zig Ziglar summed it up perfectly when he said that in sales:

“Some you win, some you lose and some get rained out.”

You won’t win every sale and that’s okay. When you realise that your confidence never needs to take a hit from a failed pitch. Just mentally shrug it off, learn what you can from the experience and make the next call or visit.

It’s a game – sales is competitive and challenging and in every way that matters it’s just like a game or a sport – even down to having coaches and trainers like me! People who play sports or games tend to play to win. That means they take them seriously, try their best etc. It also means they enjoy the struggle and the challenge and have fun.

The more fun someone is having the less self conscious they become, the more relaxed and thus the more confident they will be.

When managing sales people (or yourself) to sell do remember to consider the game aspect. That’s one of the reasons sales incentives where people can win small prizes work so well. They are fun!

So play to win and enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is sales!

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As always there are many other things I could say regarding confidence and sales however for now I trust the above has given you a starting point.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

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Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page and the Sales Training details are available here

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

Twitter Virus

 

“He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of emperors.”

Rudyard Kipling

There is a Twitter virus that is malignant and damaging. You probably know people who are infected and maybe you are yourself.

Like all powerful viruses it spreads rapidly through reproduction and it does not enhance, build or strengthen anything.

I think it has it’s origin in good intentions but my mother always said that the road to hell was paved with those and I think she was right. I have certainly, mistakenly, followed several people who were heavily infected. I have since dropped them and I am on my guard against future infections.

So what is this twitter virus of which I speak – let me give you a clue:

“Some for renown on scraps of learning dote,

And think they grow immortal as they quote.”

Edward Young

Yes that’s right. I am talking about the human twitter virus of constantly tweeting quotations or links to other sites.

*(‘tweeting’ means to publish a message on Twitter if you are unfamiliar with Twitter lingo)

I accept that it can it be useful or educational to post the occasional link. There are some things out there that deserve to be shared but the continual practice of tweeting other people’s work doesn’t make you look well read and clever. It makes you look like you have no original thoughts.

And if you are compelled to share the occasional a link or quote then how about saying why you are sharing it? Give some explanation of what that link or quote meant to you. Or maybe, and hold on if this seems too radical, or like too much work, write your own article discussing the website or quote you want to share.

This would give you something original to post and would actually add to the knowledge wealth of mankind rather than simply acting as another signpost on the information highway. Which when you simply post a link is all you are really doing.

So please, consider if you are a victim or a carrier of this virus and take steps to stamp it out. There are wonderful things out there to share and you have a chance to make them even more meaningful.

People will be a lot more impressed by your actions when they are your own rather than simply the fruits of other people’s efforts – and this holds true online and in business – originality is powerful.

Until next time; be original!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

 

 

 

 

 

Four Tips for Avoiding Back Door Hiring

This is the next in an ongoing series of articles presenting recruitment advice. Suitable for everyone who runs or works in a recruitment business.

Recruitment

is an Art Form

An important point to remember with all recruitment or sales advice is that both activies are art forms. As such there are lots of ways to do them.

I only offer advice that I have either used myself or presented to others and seen work well. Consider how you can adapt the advice here for your market place and your style of recruitment or sales and I truly expect it to help you be a success.

Four Tips for Avoiding Back Door Hiring

Back door hiring is that unhappy event that happens to all recruiters at some point in their career where the client hires a candidate without informing the consultant.

[Historical note - the phrases 'back door hiring'; 'being back doored' etc are not mine but ones I have heard widely in the industry - the analogue is that the candidate has been ushered quietly in through the back door of the building away from prying eyes. You might be aware of this situation via a different name.]

There are a range of reasons why clients do this is ranging from accidental oversight to criminal intent. Sometimes we do our job as recruiters so well that the temptation of what we are offering is too much for the decision maker.

From the candidate perspective they are often presented with the bleak choice of being morally upright or getting a job offer. A tough place to be in when you need a job.

For those consultants thinking this is all about forming strong relationships with their candidates let me agree and say that despite the best possible of relationships back doors will happen. People are people and sometimes that means they are less than upstanding and moral. What you need is a safety net for those occasions when people fall from grace.

I had one client who, as it turned out, had no budget to recruit but couldn’t resist the two candidates I presented to him from his direct competitor. He hired them after telling me they had failed the interview.

Fortunately his CEO was a decent chap and settled the bill immediately I brought it too his  attention. (And put an official repremand on the record of the hiring manager). So all ended well but had I not been vigilant in my recruitment practice thousands of pounds of earnings would have been stolen from me.

So I present below four tips to help you get what you deserve and what you are legally owed:

1) Have a regular checking system – ensure that you have a regular system for checking against back doors. This should be an absolute part of your recruitment processes – as a company. If for some reason you company does not want to implement a system then put your own personal one in place for your personal units.

I suspect that once you have found your first example your company will be keen to adopt a checking system.

2) Check up on every arranged interview - I’ve had quite a few consultants tell me that they check up on the interviews that they are suspicious about. In my opinion that’s like having a fire alarm and turning it off when you are fairly happy there isn’t going to be a fire. You simply can’t know when there is going to be a problem so you check all of them.

You do that and I guarantee that at some point one will come up that will totally surprise you.

3) Check to the full extent of your terms and conditions – most recruiters have terms and conditions that describe their ‘introducing of a candidate’ as lasting for twelve months. So you check right up to the end of that time frame.

I remember clearly an experienced consultant whom I was coaching and I had him start to check for back doors. Something he had never done before. When I checked I found out he had stopped at interviews he had arranged six months ago. I strongly suggested he go back the full time span and lo and behold his first back door, worth nearly £9,000 in fees, turned out to be an interview he had arranged eleven and a half months ago.

Needless to say he religiously checks all his arranged interviews right to their end date now. (Disappointingly he never did buy me that bottle of wine he promised me to say thank you!)

4) Powerful Paperwork – this could almost be a blog topic in itself however once a back door situation has arisen your chief weapon will be your paperwork. Something that really helps is having a signed ‘Declaration slip”. This is a piece of paper which the candidate has signed to confirm that your company has introduced him to the client.

Several companies that I know of have added this as a tear off and return portion to their interview confirmation letters. If anyone would like an example of one then email me and I will send one over.

Along with the declaration slip your internal paperwork regarding the candidate and the interviewer needs to be strong and well documented. Dates are important and if you have those wonderful consultants who are terrific at sales and bad at paperwork then please try to educate them. Having a strong paper trail detailing candidate and client discussions can result in an out of court and early settlement when back doors happen.

I have literally seen thousands of pounds of billings and commissions lost when poor paperwork has prevented the truth from being provable!

I truly hope the above helps.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

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Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page – do have a look and consider how they might benefit you or your company

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

Four Tips for Dealing with Gatekeepers

This is the next in an ongoing series of articles presenting sales advice. Suitable for everyone who has to make a sales call!

Recruitment and Sales

is an Art Form

An important point to remember with all recruitment or sales advice is that both activies are art forms. As such there are lots of ways to do them.

I only offer advice that I have either used myself or presented to others and seen work well. Consider how you can adapt the advice here for your market place and your style of recruitment or sales and I truly expect it to help you be a success.

Four Tips for Dealing with Gatekeepers

A gatekeeper is anyone who is not the specific person you wanted to speak to. Very often they are a receptionist, or the secretary but they could also be a senior director who is simply not the senior director whom you wanted!

Becoming an expert at dealing with gatekeepers is a necessary task for anyone seeking to become brilliantly successful at sales. It takes effort, practice and thought.

I outline below four tips that will help but they aren’t the whole picture. If getting to the decision maker you wanted was like crossing a raging river then consider the tips that follow as stepping stones  rather than a complete bridge. They sure will help but you’d be advised to add some more stones of your own!

1) Be polite - Bang! There you go. The first rule – Be polite. Note I didn’t say be weak or accepting I said be polite. There is nothing to be gained, and everything to be lost, by being rude to the gatekeepers. First of all you should respect everyone in business regardless of their position and second not being polite will close more doors than it will open.

I have met sales people who have happily told me about the receptionists they have bullied into submission. I also know that in the cases where I have witnessed such sales people in action I have always witnessed more negatives resulting from their approach than positives.

2) Be assumptive - This is both a mind set and a verbal tip. In your head you should be expecting to reach the person you are after and if they are genuinely not available you should be expecting help regarding how to get hold of them later.

So for example when someone is not available try asking:

“When is the best time to call?” – assumes there is  best time (People usually say “Is there a best time?” which is weaker

“When will he be back?” – assumes the person will return at some time

“What’s his mobile number?” – assumes he has a mobile phone rather than “Does he have a mobile number?”

Having an assumptive mind set makes it much easier to get results when dealing with gatekeepers. It’s all about expecting them to help, provide you with information and put you through.

3) Switch target - So the person you really want isn’t available – “Who else could you speak to?” – you can ask that of the gatekeeper “Who else could I speak to about…?” – again this is an assumptive question assuming that there will be someone else.

A stronger way of thing this is by having another person in mind when you make the call and then smoothly switch to the other person – e.g. if you can’t reach the sales director then ask for the managing director etc

4) Get their names - You should always get the name of the receptionist, pa and frankly all the gatekeepers you speak to. It makes the next call that you make to that company so much easier when you are able to use their name. You can also use their name on the call in a couple of different ways.

First you can use it when speaking to them which has a positive psychological impact and secondly when forwarded through to a person you can reference the person you were just speaking to by name.

This can be especially useful when pure cold calling and you have had to ask for the right person to speak to.When you get the suggested decision maker on the phone, let’s imagine the gatekeeper had been called Sarah, you are able to mention that

“Sarah said you were the right person to speak to regarding…”

This can be a warm way into the call.

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Further sales and recruitment advice will be given later this week and over future weeks.

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Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page and the Sales Training details are available here – do have a look and consider how it might benefit you or your company

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

I truly hope the above helps.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Monday – The Race Begins

It is a common practice to gripe about Monday mornings. The weekend is over and work has begun. I’ve known people who could spend all of Monday and some of Tuesday complaining about it!

And those were average people who got average results.

Now I don’t know about you but I want to be above average; indeed I want to excel at what I do.

So as I sit in my office this Monday morning I am making a mental effort to see today, and this week, in a new, positive, powerful way. The analogue from the world of sports that comes to me this morning is that the week is really like a relay race. Each day is a circuit, or lap, that leads into the next.

When I train time management I talk about the important of setting your diary and desk up for the following day before you leave the office. This means that in the mornings you can walk in and immediately start working without any delay.

In a relay race handing over to the next runner is the key moment when time is lost or saved. So right now plan that this evening, before leaving work, you will set your desk up for tomorrow. Plan to be efficient.

And this week consider it a race. Each day linking into the next day and each day empowering the next one. Know your goal for the end of the week and race towards it as successful as you can.

After all, you are doing what you do for a living. It pays for all the down time and fun – so race through the week, excel and succeed and then celebrate at the weekend!

Have a great week.

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Four Tips With Voice Mails

An article for anyone in business, whether recruitment, sales, management or general business who spends time talking to voicemails.

Whether you are in sales, recruitment or business generally you will frequently be trying to reach someone and instead reach their voice mail. In my experience it’s at this point a lot of people tense up and frankly lose the plot. So let me offer some guidance that might make the whole experience more relaxed and productive.

1) Always leave a message – This is very much rule 101 when it comes to voice mails. Consider this; you have spent the time ringing the company, and often in sales also finding out who you should speak to, possibly having to debate or negotiate with the receptionist to put you through – so why on earth would you then throw away all that time and effort and not leave a message?

The time you have spent getting as far as the voice mail has already be spent. You might as well try your luck and leave a message.

Otherwise it’s a bit like going to a casino, buying some chips, walking over to the roulette table. . .and then refusing to place a bet. You simply can’t win by doing that. But you might just win if you do place a bet i.e. leave a message!

(The casino example is my response to people who say it is pointless leaving message – I’m not saying you will get called back but I am saying you might and I can guarantee you won’t if you don’t leave a message – also see point three below)

2) Prepare your message in advance - People get nervous when the voice mail starts and many people I have coached over the years have told me this is because they don’t know what to say and they are desperately trying to think of something before the beep goes. The result is they sound flustered and uncertain on their message. The really simply answer, and it makes the whole experience much more relaxed, is to know what you are going to say before you make the call.

Business people are busy and it is realistic to think that you might end up talking to an answering machine or voice mail when you ring someone. So plan what you will say in that eventuality prior to making the call. It only takes a few seconds of thought.

3) Be realistic - Realistically they are not going to call you back. At least you can’t rely on them calling you back especially if you are making a cold call to them and they don’t know you. Immediately after leaving your message diariase your call back. Do not rely on them to call you. It’s nice if they do but you can’t rely on it.

4) Slowly and repeat – People speed up when they speak on voicemails so ensure that you are speaking slowly when you leave your message. Think like a news presenter and pace out your words.

Having a message prepared helps here as you can relax and simply say what you were planning to say. At the end of the message its good practice to repeat your name and phone number. At the start of the message the listener is doing just that; listening. At the end they are more ready to write down your details.

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There are a few other things I could say about voicemails however the above are the key ones and should make the whole process run a lot smoother for you!

Do feel free to pass on this article or recommend it to a friend or colleague if you feel they would benefit from it.

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Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page do have a look and consider how it might benefit you or your company and if you are from a company in another industry than management training and general business skills training is also available. And we’d love to hear from you!

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

I truly hope the above helps.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

David Carradine Kung Fu

David Carradine, Photo Copywrite: Jano Rohleder

“I know Kung Fu!” Neo

I really hadn’t been planning on doing this blog but after posting a very short comment on another blog about Carradine’s death I’ve had a week’s worth of hits on this blog in a day.

So never wanting to waste anyone’s time let me give my personal thoughts on David Carradine and then if you’ve come here from the other blog Sable Variety you will have something to read!

I loved the show Kung Fu when I was a kid because it showed that actually you could be a nice quiet person and still be powerful. At school and in later life I’ve met a lot of loud, angry people who feel strong by putting others down.

I’ve seen this in colleagues, managers and directors. I’ve witnessed career assassinations and put downs for no other reason than to raise the doers feeling of self worth. I’ve seen people be criticised or over looked for being too quiet or two nice.

And yet some of the strongest, most intelligent and most trustworthy people I have met have been those same quiet people. So Kung Fu for me was when growing up a moral support of the quieter life. No boasting or bragging was need according to David’s character in the shows.

I remember clearly the scene where he was waiting to be accepted into the temple. There are lots of other kids with him applying but as time goes on they start to play games or wander off. Only Caine (David’s character) is left waiting patiently when the doors finally open.

Once inside the temply the others rush forward and grab what they can. Caine again waits until asked. I could draw a few parrallels there with scenes I have witnessed on client visits across a few different industries.

So I will always remember David with affection. I didn’t follow him in his later work but his Kung Fu show was a whole lot of fun when I was a kid and gave me hope that the quiet path could be strong.

For that I’m grateful and I hope, whatever the events that surrounded his death, he is remembered kindly.

Regards

Stephen

PS If you have come here from the blog The Sable Variety feel free to stick around and explore – Edenchanges is a training company with a blog aimed at personal and professional development.

Four Tips When Canvassing

This is the first in an ongoing series of articles presenting recruitment advice for recruitment consultants and managers.

Recruitment is an Art Form

An important point to remember with all recruitment advice is that recruitment is an art form. As such there are lots of ways to do it.

I only offer advice that I have either used myself or presented to others and seen work well. Consider how you can adapt the advice here for your market place and your style of recruitment and I truly expect it to help you be a success.

Four Tips When Canvassing

The art of canvassing, or presenting a specific candidate to a specific target company, has many stages. One of the most critical is the moment you reach your target – the decision maker.

If that moment is fumbled then all the work that has gone into making the call is wasted. Assuming you want to be a success in recruitment then the question has to be ~ “How can you maximise your impact at that moment in the call?”

There are a number of things you can do – let me present four:

1) Have a Powerful Opening Statement (POS) prepared about your candidate- This is literally the first thing that you say to the decision maker after they have answered the phone (see point number 2) – a good POS will be short, have a couple of facts about the candidate you are representing and end in an open question.

You keep it short because you want to engage the decision maker in a two way conversation and you can’t do that if you are doing all the talking. Also it’s about talking with, not talking to, the decision maker.

The facts about your candidate are to catch the decision makers interest and getting him to think about how great your candidate is and the open question is to kick start the real conversation where you will be able to achieve all your objectives for the call.

2) Go straight into your POS – I’m not one for ‘Hi, how are you’ or ‘Have I caught you at a good time?’. I prefer to get straight into the call. For me the softer openers simply alert the decision maker that this is a sales call and lose you momentum.

3) Say it with confidence- Consider your tone very carefully. If you don’t sound confident then the call will fail. You have to believe in what you are saying and say it with a convincing level of confidence.

4) ‘Individual’ not ‘Candidate’- I don’t like the word ‘candidate’ I think it’s cold and clinical and I believe it has negative connotations for the decision makers. I much prefer to hear people use ‘individual’ – consider how these two sentences differ:

“I’m representing a senior candidate who is interested in…” or;

“I’m representing a senior individual who is interested in…”

Personally I much prefer the second one which I think sounds much more ’senior business’ like than the first. It has also been my experience that it is better received.

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There are lots of other elements that go into making a canvass call a success. Adopting the above suggestions will, I believe, be a great start towards you enjoying even greater success when doing it.

Further recruitment advice will be given later this week and over future weeks.

♦♦♦

Edenchanges Recruitment Training services are outlined on this page do have a look and consider how it might benefit you or your company

Additionally a unique recruitment coaching program is available at www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com and is suitable for all recruitment professionals of any level, anywhere in the world.

I truly hope the above helps.

Until next time; be successful!

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

New View Now

I am delighted to announce that the upgrades to the Edenchanges website are now complete.

The full range of offerings to companies and individuals are detailed on the site and the Edenchange corporate brochure is easily available for download from every page.

Edenchanges is a commerical enterprise and as such is always looking for paying clients. If you are a business professional then please do take a moment to review our services and consider how we might be able to help you.

And to everyone, fee paying client or otherwise,  keep visiting- the free personal and professional development blogs will continue to be posted and I truly hope they benefit you in some way.

Yours

Stephen Hart

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

Career Success Points

Two questions for you. . .

 

“In business, how successful do you want to be?”

And;

“How will you know when you get there?”

 

The above two career coaching questions represent the classic argument that if you don’t know where you are going then frankly how are you going to get there?

It is a very valid argument and you need to address it at some point if you are serious about your career. Unfortunately many people find it too big an issue to address and consequently brush it aside. Let me help you break it down into something more manageable.

The simplest way to do this is to change the time scale of the first question. Instead of thinking about the whole of your career consider a much shorter time span, for example this year, next year, or your next review date.

Alternatively consider it in terms of how successful you want to be in your current role or in your current company. Your current role is your next opportunity to be a success. Even if what you do isn’t what you want to do long term a success in your role now can only help your long term ambitions.

So shorten the time scale of the question based on your current situation and rephrase it to “By the end of that time how successful do I want to be?” Avoid allowing yourself the luxury of giving an answer like “Very” or “As successful as I can be” And that’s where the second question helps.

Asking yourself ““How will I know when I get there?” forces you to come up with something definitive. Job titles are the easy answer that people typically give but there are other answers that might be more relevant for you. Also job titles can be a dead end in business. I know plenty of managers who don’t manage anyone and sales managers who don’t sell.

Deeper, arguably cleverer answers might well then be event related. Such things as setting sales records, getting an industry award or achieving a high customer satisfaction rating. Events like that are the real signs of work success and are very powerful steps towards shaping a successful career.

The key is knowing what level of success you want and knowing how you will measure that. Aim over the short term and each time you achieve your career success point set your next one. This way you will enjoy a progressive career where you chart out each step.

Yours

Stephen Hart

Coach, Trainer, Public Speaker

Based in the UK and Working Globally

Edenchanges

Edenchanges is a company specialising in recruitment training and coaching.

Additionally it provides management and sales training along with a range of corporate training programs to the wider business community.

Services for individuals include career coaching, job hunting advice and interview preparation.

The Best is Yet to Come

The above is our philosophy and what that means to you is that however good and successful you have been up to now we would like to help you be even more successful.

As a company we have a very strong background in recruitment and headhunting, career coaching, sales and management.

We only train things we have done ourselves so when you work with us you are working with people who have sat in your seat and faced your challenges for real.

Combining that real life experience with our ongoing research and development programs and the result is the best training and coaching available.

We also genuinely care about helping people and we’re happy to be a little different in our approach. That’s why our website is designed as a business blog as this means we can offer free personal and career development advice on a regular basis.

Details of the Edenchanges services can be found by clicking the relevant link at the top of the page. Additionally we welcome all enquiries and our contact details are listed below.

We invite you to browse our website and conside how Edenchanges can help you achieve greater success.

Contact Details

Email

enquiries@edenchanges.com

Telephone (International)

+44 1757 249 380

Telephone (UK)

01757 249 380

Edenchanges is based in the UK and works Globally

Related links are:

www.recruitmentwithoutborders.com – a recruitment coaching service provided by Edenchanges

www.box.net/shared/mya0u51×57 – Click to download Edenchanges corporate brochure pdf format

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenlhart – Linkedin public profile of Stephen Hart, Owner of Edenchanges

http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/how-to-succeed-at-job-hunting/5885865 – How to Succeed at Job Hunting E-book written by Stephen Hart, Owner of Edenchanges